Nothing is Perfect
by Tanon
Summary: A boy is nearing his death when he swaps places with 'himself' from another world to save his family. Why? TF/Reborn. Mostly original characters, but some canon characters. Slight AU. COMPLETE.
1. NineEleven 911

**This is my first fic, and while it is now finished, there might still be small mistakes in these chapters. I'd be only too happy to fix anything that gets pointed out to me. Enjoy!**

**You will occasionally see bolded and underlined text, which are Author's notes that I've added since completing the fic.**

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><p>When Stephen woke up, he didn't remember where he was. However, he soon recognized the opulent walls and blankets of the hotel he was staying at. Normally just content to just stay where he was and lie in a little, Stephen couldn't do that this time, as he was too excited about the day to come.<p>

_"The world's tallest building...man, it's going to be so cool!"_

He dressed to the tune of Manhattan traffic.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania near Shanksville...<em>

After waking up at 9:30, as he generally took Tuesdays off, a farmer settled down to make some breakfast for himself. After frying up some bread, bacon and eggs (he'd heard of nutritional values before, but didn't hold to them) and pouring himself some coffee he picked up his now slightly steaming plate, a newspaper, and settled down on his veranda to enjoy his breakfast. Mentally, he noted to himself that he had to get a gift for his wife's fifteenth anniversary in two days before she got home from business in _Canada _(he had steadfastly refused to set foot in that country). He thought back to that day, on the 13th of September, 1986...

He was halfway though an article debating the uselessness of the Bush administration when he heard a weird sound...

* * *

><p>Stephen walked out of his own bedroom into the living room to meet up with his parents and sister, Shana (who had a knack for being a lot more annoying than you'd expect from a seven year old) and head down to breakfast, which had only opened and proceeded to bolt down cornflakes and milk (the kitchen hadn't started cooking yet) with the rest of his family. Even though he usually ate more than his parents and sister, he was still the first to finish, as he had chosen one of the places that they were planning to visit today.<p>

"Come on Shana! You're eating way too slow! We'll never beat the traffic to the two towers if you eat so slowly! I want to stand on the tallest building in the world!"

"mmph... Not fair! I'm going as fast as I can and anyway, you got us up too early! It's still 7:30!" Shana retorted through mouthfuls of Fruit Loops (she shared the same sentiments as the farmer with regards to nutritional values, although that was mainly because she hadn't understood what they fully meant, and couldn't care less).

"Stephen! Seeing as you're so eager to get out of this place, you can go and check if our taxi is already here. If it is, just tell the driver to wait another 5 minutes, we told him to be here at 7:45 anyway." Stephen's father interrupted. As Stephen dashed out of the Kitchen, his mother turned to his father. "You do realise that the only reason why we booked the Taxi for 7:45 was because we needed to leave at 8?"

"Yeah, but it gave him something to do, and I get to eat my breakfast in peace."

* * *

><p>The farmer looked up, and against all logic, saw a plane flying extremely low towards the ground about 3 kilometers from where he was. The wind howled around it as it approached his house.<p>

"Err... crap?"

The farmer gulped down the rest of his bacon, and started hurrying away from his house, assuming that for some extremely perverted reason someone wanted his house leveled. _It was an unusual method for demolition though_, he mused. _Probably the CIA discovered that I knew about their cover ups! Ha! I was right about Area 51..."_

However, the plane seemed to be dropping too quickly for it to hit his house. Upon seeing that, the farmer went straight back to his house to grab his mobile. Grabbing it, he fished around for the On button before realising that it was already on, and that he had just turned it off again.

"God dammit!."

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><p>The taxi ride to the World Trade Center was quite uneventful, unless the fact that Stephen nearly ranted at the Taxi driver because he turned up 3 minutes late, and had to be shushed up by his father before the driver opened his door counted as an event. Even at 8 o'clock, the streets were already heavy with cars, and as such it took them an hour to even reach Manhattan.<p>

"Why are we going so slow?" Shana asked

"Because there's lots of traffic, and there are too many cars on the roads, and they can't handle them, so they all got stuck or something" Stephen replied, showing enormous insight for a 10 year old

"But that's stupid! Why can't they just make all the lights green?"

"Becaus- Argh! I dunno! Maybe then all the cars would crash?"

"Why would they crash?" Stephen swore that Shana was doing this on purpose.

Luckily, although whether it was more lucky for Stephen or for Shana, Stephen's temper managed to hold itself in check for the last 10 minutes until they got to the World Trade Centre. Once there, they went in and straight up the elevator to the top when...

"Dad, do you have the camera?"

* * *

><p>The sound the plane made when it crash-landed was deafening. It started with a high-pitched screech as the plane approached the ground, which built to a cacophony of sound louder than that at an airport landing strip. The farmer dived to the ground with his hands over his ears (or what was left of them).<p>

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><p>"Look, there isn't time to get the camera, ok? We'll just have to see if we can get one of those disposable thingies at a souvenir shop when we get to the top." Stephen's father nervously said.<p>

"But what if there isn't one, why can't we go back hom- to the hotel and come back at like 10 o'clock or something!" Stephen whinged.

"We won't have time, son, our flight's scheduled to leave for California at 3, and it's going to be tight for us to get there anyway even after getting up so early. You don't understand how heavy the traffic is here in New York, ok? We'll just have to make do, and you DO want to go to Disneyland, don't you? Also, do you have any idea how expensive a meal up here at the Windows on the World costs?" Stephen's father pointed at the restaurant sign.

"Well...I-" Stephen began,

"I don't care! Let's get this tower done now! I wanna go Disneyland!" Shana cut in.

However, after searching the souvenir shop on the top floor, it soon became evident that there were no photos of Stephen that were going to be taken on the top floor that day. Glumly, Stephen followed his parents to the top floor, which was already quite full, to enjoy dining on the tallest building on the world, but the experience had lost some of its charm for Stephen.

It was 8:40.

* * *

><p>"Hello? This is 911 emergency."<p>

The farmer had finally managed to place a call to emergency services. As he waited for the call to connect, he realised that his story sounded like one of the crackpot stories that he'd occasionally read about in the paper...

"Help! A plane's just crash landed in my field! I'm near Stonycreek Township near Shanksville! You probably don't believe me but-

"No I believe you. Haven't you seen the news lately? Can you tell what type of plane it is?" The shocked voice retorted over the phone. Somehow, the fact that the voice on the other end had seemed so believing of his story unsettled the farmer...

"No, I don't own a TV. What happened?" the farmer responded while running towards the fallen aircraft.

As he approached, it was evident that no one could have survived the crash.

It was 10:04.

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><p>As Stephen glumly surveyed the sprawling mass of high-rise and yellow cabs that defined Manhattan and New York City so well, he noticed something to his right in his peripheral vision...<p>

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><p>"It looks like a passenger plane, one that you can buy tickets for, but I don't think anyone could have survived this... there's metal everywhere and I don't even know which end of this is the front of the plane and which is the back...what's happened?" The farmer, now trembling, sat on the ground.<p>

"If you are correct, then this is the 4th plane crash today. There have already been two planes flown into the World Trade Center, and I've just seen on CNN that another one crashed into the Pentagon! One of the towers at the World Tra-..." The farmer dropped the phone

As the voice rambled on, coming out of the abandoned phone lying on the ground, the farmer approached the wreck. He tried to lift some of the debris off, but the metal was still hot to the touch. However, something glinted, and caught his eye.

It was another mobile phone, and it was ringing.

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><p>Stephen turned, and saw a plane. Planes around Manhattan were normal, and he'd gotten used to the sound of the aircraft mingling with the traffic at night.<p>

The plane was flying at him.

_"Not good..."_

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><p>The farmer picked up the phone, and answered it.<p>

"Oh gawd!" The voice on the other end, a woman's one, was crying, "What happened? Where are you? I heard this explosion and you hung up! Please..."

The farmer stood there. After 10 seconds of listening to the woman's rambling, he decided to answer.

"I'm sorry, whoever you are. I don't know who you are, but I found this phone lying in a plane that had just crashed in my fields. I'm so sorry, so very very sorr-" He was cut short by a scream of anguish on the other end.

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><p>"Oh my god! Everyone! GET OUT! There's a plane-oof!"<p>

Stephen barrelled into his parents and sister, forcing them to the elevator.

"What the hell are you doing, Stephen? If this is another of your pranks again I'm gonna..." Stephen's mother was cut short as the entire building shook and everyone was knocked to their feet. The light fixtures fell off, and the sound seemed to flip a switch within everyone, who promptly began panicking.

"What h-happened?" Shana asked.

"I saw a plane come flying at us, and then... I-I think it crashed into us..." Stephen mumbled.

"The fire exit! Its our only hope!" Someone yelled, and suddenly, everyone snapped out of their individual panic attacks, and proceeded to attack each other in a vain attempt to get through the fire exit.

However, everyone's actions seemed to slow down to the point where they weren't even moving at all. Everyone except for Stephen.

Bewildered, Stephen walked over to his father, and tapped him on the nose. His father, and another stranger, seemed solid, and after trying to push the stranger over (he didn't really want to try toppling his dad), he realised that nothing, no one, could be moved.

_"It's almost like time has frozen..."_

"Correct! Give the man a prize!" The sudden exclamation caused Stephen to start, and he tried to turn and back away at the same time. Of course, no matter how good the body may seem at multitasking, two legs cannot multitask, the end result being that Stephen was now sitting on the ground, staring at...

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><p>The farmer didn't know what to do. Didn't know what to say. He just went to the road outside his house and waited.<p>

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you? You look like one of those game thingys, a-..."<p>

"Pokemon? Yes, I am, indeed, a Pokemon. And I am here to talk to you. About all this." It gestured around itself.

The...Pokemon looked a little like a like a T-Rex, however, its arms were of a much more normal length, and had some kind of gauntlet-like armour on them. Its skin was a light purple, with several stripes and bands on its wrists, tail, torso and neck. However, the most distinguishing feature on it were the two pink pearls set in its shoulder plates.

Stephen was dumbfounded. After the pure shock of seeing something so improbable happen before his eyes began to drain away, questions began to surface to his mind like bubbles from a shaken Coke bottle, the first three of which didn't take long to be asked.

"What? How? Why?" He asked incredulously. The purple dinosaur Pokemon began to answer. As he did, a green glow started rising to his left, further adding to Stephen's worries and already long list of questions.

"Look, I'm Palkia, and one of my abilities is the ability to warp space. So no prizes as to guessing what I am or how I got here. As for the third question, I believe that that might take a little longer to answer. You will have to come with me..."

"Err...Wh-" Stephen started, only to be interrupted by another voice, this time sounding in his head.

"_Always with the questions! Palkia, just get him in here where we can talk without me having to concentrate on the time so much!"_

As his mind was busy comprehending this, Palkia reached out and touched his head with one claw, whilst reaching the other towards the green glow. As they touched, Stephen felt himself black out.

He also felt himself leaving his body.

* * *

><p>By noon, the farmer had gotten the whole story from the authorities. Several police had come and left. Then the FBI and their forensics teams started arriving, and with them came the news.<p>

By 11:00, both of the World Trade Centers had already collapsed. The south tower was safely evacuated before it had collapsed as the plane that had crashed into it had done so after the plane that had crashed into the north tower giving authorities time to issue orders and secure a cordon around the area.

However, everyone above the crash point of the plane on the north tower had died when the north tower collapsed. The plane had cut through all three of the fire stairs, trapping the tourists on the viewing deck until the tower fell, killing everyone inside.

All of America was affected by the incident, and mass demonstrations were held around the country, asking the US government to do something.

In less than a month, the War on Terror had officially begun.

* * *

><p>Feeling that some part of him ought to be outraged by being yanked away from his body, but unable to do so for some reason, Stephen 'looked' around at his surroundings. He realised that he was floating in an empty space. Wishing that it would have been better if there was some light, Stephen tried to see if he could see anything in the distance ahead of him when a dim light appeared off in the distance like some kind of faux-sun.<p>

"_Now that you've finished with your interior decoration, could we please speak?" _The voice, once again in his head, caused him to attempt turning around, but he couldn't, seeing as he didn't know how to move.

"_Just imagine yourself spinning around and moving forward. This place is the canvas on which you paint with your imagination, and is what universes are created from, but that's for other beings to do...not you."_

Stephen turned, to be confronted by three 'thought-beings'. One looked like Palkia, looking a little more transparent and pinkish than normal. The other looked like a small fairy like creature, antenna on its head and impossibly huge eyes...

The last 'thought-being' looked like himself.

"_So this is me? I guess he does look a lot like me... I know what I have to do, so I guess I'll be going now?" _With that, Stephen's 'copy' turned and left with the fairy-thing, who immediately reappeared.

"Err... was that me?" Stephen asked, now a little unsure of himself.

"_Yes, it was... but at the same time, it wasn't you. See," _Palkia continued, noting Stephen's confused expression, _"that was the you from our world, the world of Pokemon."_

"_Indeed, and basically, he's gone to take your place, and you're to take his." _Now the fairy-thing joined in.

"What? He, I mean, I became me? And now you expect me to become me? Wait, that didn't sound sane..." Stephen paused, slightly nervous, "What I meant to say was, how come you get to decide when to randomly switch our-... my places?"

"_Notice that big plane that flew into the building you were in? I thought you did. Well, your other self was sent back in time by yours truly about 2 hours... and HE will remember the camera." _The fairy-thing responded _"and by the way, I'm Celebi, and before you ask, yes... I can travel through and manipulate time."_

"Oookay...," Stephen started uncertainly "...so you're saying that by remembering the camera, we wouldn't have wasted time looking for a disposable one, and so would have gotten out of the building... before the plane crash!"

"_Got it in one, boy" _Palkia seemed to smile. _"You may be asking, why not just send you back in time? Why get the other you to do it? And why don't we just stop the planes from flying in? In response to your first question, we don't want to interfere with your world at all, really, but Steven, the other you, wasn't going to make the right decisions. This was probably the smallest change we could make. A swap and then having that swapped person remember to bring an object. As for the other questions, well, Celebi can't tell us much about it at the moment, but basically the versions of our world with the other you...don't end that well, and you are just different enough to change the future into something a little better."_

_"As you'd expect, we'd like our world to keep existing." _Celebi continued. _"I know that for some reason, placing you in our universe causes it to continue on its proper path, and so we decided that maybe pulling you into our reality would be an excellent idea. That, and the fact that you were about 1 hour away from dying... the building would have collapsed." _Celebi continued _"Think of the fact that at least your parents and Shana will be saved as a reward for agreeing to come help us. Anyway, Palkia and the other legendaries (_Celebi seemed to shift awkwardly at the mention of legendaries_) share the same sentiments as I do. Hell, we COULD send you back, but what good would that do for us? And what good would it do for you? Fate has a knack of chasing down it's intended targets..."_

"But... doesn't that mean that I would still die here, in this new world?" Stephen, still nervous about the whole dimension thing, asked.

"_Well... yes, but we're hoping that the fact that you're in another dimension kinda staves fate off for a bit longer, but who knows? Maybe you might live out a full life, and then die of natural causes..." _Palkia replied, although she noticed that Celebi still seemed a little uncomfortable when she said those words.

Even so, Stephen couldn't really pass on this opportunity. He was, if these two 'thought-pokemon' could be believed, about to die, but had now been given a second chance to live his life...

"Okay...I'll do it..."

* * *

><p>By noon, the farmer had found out what had happened. Several police had come and left. Then the FBI and their forensics teams started arriving, and with them came the news.<p>

By 11:00, both of the World Trade Centers had already collapsed. The south tower was safely evacuated before it had collapsed as the plane that had crashed into it had done so after the plane that had crashed into the north tower giving authorities time to issue orders and secure a cordon around the area.

However, everyone above the crash point of the plane on the north tower had died when the north tower collapsed. The plane had cut through all three of the fire stairs, trapping the tourists on the viewing deck until the tower fell, killing everyone inside._ Only one couple, and their children were lucky to have been in the elevator shaft during the plane crash, near the bottom. The doors were quickly pried open and they were rescued. The pictures on their camera, taken of the Manhattan skyline, would later prove to be the last surviving photographs taken from the World Trade Center._

All of America was affected by the incident, and mass demonstrations were held around the country, asking the US government to do something.

In less than a month, the War on Terror had officially begun.

_In the background, a green fairy like creature listened as the news was relayed to the farmer by the FBI. As soon as he had found out that 'Stephen' and his family had survived, her entire body glowed green, and vanished._

Reality had been successfully altered.

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><p>As soon as Stephen had agreed to the 'thought-Pokemon's' wishes, they seemed to solidify, and while Palkia pretty much stayed the same colour (that's right, use British spelling!), Celebi had turned bright green, and her eyes had turned baby blue. Stephen blinked at the sudden change of colour.<p>

"_Ha! We had to make sure you agreed before we let you fully into our dimension. Note that now, you cannot understand Pokemon, including Palkia, unless they communicate telepathically like I am doing so now. You will gain all the memories that the other you had in this reality, while retaining your own ones. You may discover the difference between you and your other you within those memories... If you have no more questions of us, then we'll beam you down. I have already explained this to the other you, but your name here is spelt with a 'v' instead of a 'ph', so your name is now Steven" _Celebi's voice appeared in his head.

"Okay... I guess Steven's pretty much the same as Stephen, but it'll take a little getting used to..." Stephen, now Steven warily said. Suddenly he was filled with a huge wave of confidence, and realised that whatever this new world could throw at him, it couldn't have been as bad as being one hour away from death, couldn't it?

Celebi and Palkia both waved their arms, and the green and purple beams coming from them both hit Steven in the chest at the same time. As the glow faded, it was revealed that Steven had disappeared to the world below.

Celebi turned to Palkia

"So you reckon he was more optimistic than the other him? More headstrong. His thoughts just before leaving seemed to radiate a huge amount of confidence, considering that he doesn't yet know what he's heading into."

"Celebi, you do realise you lied to him about Arceus' agreement on this matter, and about the time he has left to live? You know Arceus dosen't know of him."

"Yes Palkia. I know. I know. But Arceus needs to be ignorant, or he won't kill Steven."

"Huh...if you say so. But promise me if there was another way, you'll find it?"


	2. Repressed Memories

**Huh. Looking back on this chapter, it's kinda easy to see how much my writing has changed. If you're reading this for the first time, then all I've got to say is that many more storylines are added, and pokemon will feature more in this fic, although it does slow down somewhat in the middle.**

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><p>Steven woke up not knowing where he was, and for a moment, his brain was about to start panicking. However, he soon recognised the comfortable walls and blankets of the hotel he was staying at, and his heart started to soar with the thought of another day in New York on holiday with his parents and sister...wait, what?<p>

Steven sat up in his bed, and it was only then that he remembered the events of the day before...

"_Really? Did that really happen? Ugh, my head feels so..."_

It was now that the memories of the other him flooded into his head. A tsunami of pictures, sounds, conversations and feelings flowed into his head, and he was like a sapling before it. He was helpless as his brain had no choice but to absorb the mental onslaught.

"Arghh!"

"Steven? What's wrong?" The female voice drifted through the floorboards

Steven looked up in panic, for a moment not knowing who that voice belonged to, before his newly battered mind gave him a mental image and name to place to that voice.

"Yes mum, I just have a huge headache from...err... hitting my head...on my desk?" He looked, his desk was on the other side of the room. He winced, hoping his mother didn't notice

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, back on earth,<em>

The now newly-named Stephen stood on the roof of his hotel, where his parents and sister (Shana was a fresh addition to his world, having been an only child in the Pokemon reality) were busy buying Shana a present at the nearby stores, to take her mind off the disaster that had happened only 2 days ago. Behind him, a green glow appeared, and a voice sounded in his mind.

"_Ahh... so you seem to be adapting to this world well?" _Celebi asked.

Having still kept what little experience with Pokemon that he had, Stephen knew to respond to the question in his head.

"_Yes, Shana's a nice addition to my family, although she is a little annoying."_

"_Well, the fact that I'm not of this reality means that I can't stay for long, but I have to thank you for the sacrifice you've made. It's just that you weren't mentally equipped for the future set ahead for yo-"_

"_I don't care. I actually feel sorry for the other me, and what he has to face back at 'home' . No, this reality is infinitely far better than yours. No Pokemon, for a start, and my parents here actually seem to care about what I want." _Stephen interjected, cutting off Celebi's semi-apology. _"In fact, I probably don't need to see you ever again, if you can do one more favour for me."_

"_What?" _Celebi queried, curious as to what the human wanted.

"_Erase my memories from your reality."_

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><p>Steven, having settled into 'his' (and mentally berating himself for inserting the inverted quotation marks outside 'his', as it was HIS life now, and HIS daily routine) daily routine, quickly left home to get to school on time. His dad hadn't gotten up yet and he barely spoke to his mother as he left the house, and as he jogged to the bus stop, he inwardly marveled at the differences this reality held with 'the other one'. Of course, he had the memories of his 'other' self, but it was still a shock, living in a world where the roads were only used for pedestrians, cyclists and the occasional car (cars were rare in Sinnoh, as there were so many other ways to get around). The air also smelt different, and it was only now that he realised just how polluted the air in New York City and Christchurch (where his 'old' family life) was, New York more so than Christchurch. As he walked towards his school, he got his first real glimpse of a Pokemon in this reality.<p>

It was a bird that had flown in from a nearby route, and it's grayish plumage, mask-like face and orange beak alerted Steven's newly refurbished memory to the fact that he was staring at a Starly. The Starly eyed him for a moment, before taking off again.

* * *

><p>"<em>Why?"<em>

"_Because the memories I had of the other reality are all bad. I ended up hating my parents and now, even though they are different, a part of me still hates them, because of the way they treated me. I love this reality, but I can't enjoy it with this baggage dragging me down every time I meet them. I just wish to live a normal, happy life here, and this is the only way for me to do so. Would you deny me that one simple wish?"_ Stephen responded, becoming more and more fervent with every word he 'spoke'.

"_You would throw away your entire history?"_

"_Yes, I would."_

Celebi sighed. He wasn't sure if this was the right decision, but if that was what the boy wanted, then he could have it. After all, why burden him down with a past that could never be reached again? _"So be it. I'll be leaving now. In one hour, you will no longer have any memory of us or our reality, although you might find the Pokemon games a little boring and predictive. Farewell." _Celebi placed a glowing hand on Stephen's head, and promptly vanished.

* * *

><p>Steven approached his school, a standard affair with several blocks of yellowish buildings and a new school hall that stood proudly near the entrance of the school, Floaroma public school. As he walked in, he noticed that many of the students were giving him stares. However, he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't because of his attire, or behaviour, was it?<p>

He tried to strike up a conversation with one of his classmates as he walked towards his classrooom, but the boy he had just said hello to just gave him a scared look and mumbled some excuse about the toilet before practically running away from him.

Suddenly, it hit him. What had his other self done, that would cause him to be so vilified by the whole school? However hard he racked his brains, he couldn't come up with an answer. There were still some barriers in his mind that he couldn't pass...

"_Repressed memories..." _The now familar voice caused Steven to start, drawing the frightened stares of his classmates as he entered his classroom. _"Something that your other self did and immediately regretted, and tried to forget. You'll have to find out what happened yourself..."_

"_Wait! Don't go!"_ Steven mentally shouted, but Celebi's presence could no longer be felt.

* * *

><p>The first two periods of double English were some of the most unpleasant Steven had experienced in his life, constantly getting stares from his classmates every time he was asked, or answered a question. It didn't help that English was such a stupid subject. Come recess, he had begun to fear finding out what secrets those repressed memories held...<p>

"Hey! What's your name?" The fact that someone had talked to him shook Steven out of his reverie.

The boy who spoke to Steven was just over one and two-thirds of a metre tall. His uniform and hair were reasonably well kept, but it was obvious upon first sight that he had not been the first occupant of those clothes. However, the most striking thing about the boy was his left arm. It showed a several short red scars trailing from just above his wrist, eventually disappearing up his sleeve. The boy, noticing Steven's look, answered the unbidden question that was about to come to his lips.

"Oh, that?" The boy lifted up his sleeve, and revealed that his scar didn't travel much further past his sleeve, stopping before his shoulder. "That was from the car crash that killed my parents... I don't like to talk about it much. If you really want to know, I'm at Floaroma Orphanage now. My name's Aron, by the way." This boy showed an uncanny knack of anticipating Steven's questions and answering them before they were asked.

"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry about your parents" Steven replied, genuinely feeling sorry for Aron. However, he also noticed one of the other students who were walking by jump a little after hearing what Steven had said.

* * *

><p>Isrea was shocked. She had just seen Steven, that moody, maniacal, hot-tempered, self-centered bully feel <em>empathy<em>. How could he? After all that he had done to terrorise the other students, and now here he was being nice to the new boy? She noticed Steven staring at her, and hurried off, feeling a little sorry for the new boy, and what she thought was about to happen to him.

* * *

><p>After his little chat with Aron, Steven was feeling a little better about school life. This feeling intensified when he learnt that Aron was in most of his classes, except for English and History. He sat next to Aron for the next 2 periods, not noticing the stares coming from the rest of the classmates as they tried to deal with the shock of seeing Steven treat another student nicely.<p>

During lunch, Steven was pulled aside by one of the teachers. Beckoning over to an empty classroom, she motioned for Steven to follow, and so he did. After shutting the door behind him, he proceeded to ask Steven some questions, which Steven didn't know how to answer.

"Okay, what happened?"

"Huh?" Steven replied, dumbfounded at the randomly thrown out question.

"Don't play the fool, I know what you did to Jerry! The only reason you haven't been expelled is because the rest of the school is too scared to rat on you!" The teacher, whom Steven now recognised as Mr. Jowitz, seemed set to explode. His normally pale face had begun to turn red.

"_What did I do?"_ Steven wondered. He thought of a possible way out, while also finding out what he had 'done'

"Ok then, tell me what I did to Jerry, and I'll truthfully tell you whether I did it or not."

"Why the mindgames? We all know it was you who smashed his head into a nail, and gave him 5 stiches. He still isn't back from-"

* * *

><p><em>He was angry, so angry...<em>

_Why didn't his parents listen? Why?_

_He walked down the corridor towards the changing rooms, fuming with anger at his parents refusal, no, **Inability** to listen..._

_Why did he have to step out then?_

_One of the year threes, the boy he now knew as Jerry, stepped out of an adjoining corridor and bumped into him. It sent him over the edge. Steven whipped out his arm, sending it crashing into Jerry's forehead. Once he had started swinging, he had tried to pull his arm back. After all, it wasn't this boy's fault that he had happened to be there..._

_However, Jerry twisted once, already out cold, and landed face-first on the floor, after bouncing his head off a loose screw in the old lockers...red liquid showing on his forehead..._

"_NO!"_

_Steven ran._

* * *

><p>"-hospital yet. Are you all right?" Mr. Jowitz stopped, noticing that Steven had gone completely pale.<p>

"I-I did do it. I was angry about my parents doing something, and Jerry had stepped out of another corridor. I was just so angry... I-I swung my arm at his head, an-and once I did, I immediately regretted it. But then he fell, and his head landed on one of the protruding screws on the lockers...and I-" Steven stammered, mind reeling from the shock of the most recent memory

"Yes," Mr. Jowitz interrupted " You ran. I see, but today, you seem a lot more cheerful than what you used to be...you've already been suspended twice for bullying...No!" Steven had gone, if it was at all possible, even paler "You won't be suspended for this, or be punished, on one condition. You tell me what's wrong at home."

_How do I tell him something I don't know? What's wrong with my parents?_

"But I can't! I-... I don't know..."

Mr. Jowitz, misinterpreting his indecision, smiled. "That's okay, you just tell me when you're ready, okay? Just remember that if you do anything like this again, I'll have to suspend you again." With that, he left, sweeping the door closed behind him.

Steven spent the fifth period working with Aron, but Aron wasn't in his class in the sixth period. Resigning himself to another hour of stares, Steven headed into his classroom and sat down in the only empty desk. All the other desks had already been filled with two people at each desk. Then that girl he saw staring at him earlier, when he was talking to Aron about his scar walked in through the door. She looked around the room twice, looking for an avenue of escape, before she shrugged and walked over to his desk.

* * *

><p>Isrea was late to her last class. Being asked to stay back to help with the cleanup of the last experiment in science class had its benefits, namely that she got some cool free stuff after helping. However, it meant that she was always late to her next class. She had forgotten that with the new boy, some classes had been shuffled, and that her history class was now full, meaning that she would be sitting next to someone.<p>

Which happened to be Steven.

She shrugged, trying to pull off an air of nonchalance, and sat down next to Steven. It was funny though, he seemed as though he had changed overnight. He seemed to look a little different, his hair a lot darker and drier, skin more tanned and his demeanour wasn't hostile, or sullen as he usually was.

* * *

><p>"And it was in the year 1204 that someone offered a thanks for the blessing of nature, and it was then that our town started bearing fields of flowers. There are many theories about the source of these flowers and perhaps the most well known one is that of the legendary Pokemon Shaymin..."<p>

Steven stared at the monologuing teacher, eyes drooping, head on hands when he decided to ask the girl next to him something.

"Hey, why were you staring at me earlier during break?" Evidently that was the wrong thing to say, as Isrea immediately turned pale...

"I-I just was looking at that boy's scar..." Isrea managed to say.

Steven realised that Isrea was seriously scared of him, and tried to comfort her.

"No! That wasn't what I meant...why is everyone so scared of me? What did I do? And why did you look at me funny when I was talking to Aron?" The questions tumbled out of his mouth, unbidden.

Isrea looked at Steven. "Well, maybe because of what you did to Jerry? We both know what happened, and I looked at you funny because you were being nice to the new boy...like you are now... But you know what, you seem a little different! Something about you..."

Steven contemplated telling her the truth, but decided against it, telling her a close version of it. The real version could wait until later. "Well, I'm not the same person. I'm..." Steven fidgeted, unused to having to tell a lie on the spot. "...kind of like an identical twin. I've swapped places with him, and he's gone...really far away. I don't think I'll ever see him again."

Isrea could see that Steven was holding something back, but him being such a different person seemed to explain his sudden change of demeanor and attitude towards his classmates. "Why don't you tell everyone then? You'll just be like a new kid, and no one will be scared of you."

"I could, but I'd like to keep this as secret as possible." Isrea frowned. Again with the fidgeting.

* * *

><p>After school, Steven began to walk home, before Aron came over and called him over. "Hey! All my friends are telling me to stay away from you! Apparently you're a psycho or something."<p>

Steven decided on telling the same half-truth as he did to Isrea. "My twin was, but I've swapped places with him, and hopefully I'm not a psycho, yeah?" he laughted nervously.

Aron looked at him suspiciously. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Look. Have I acted like one towards you?"

"Err...no, but your story sucks."

Steven panicked before deciding to go on with his story. "No- Well, yess, but what else am I meant to say? It's the truth!" And in a sense, it was.

"Ok. I didn't think you seemed that type anyway. Care to come over to my house tomorrow?"

"Yeah, cool."


	3. Trouble in Mind

**Been looking forward to doing this since chapter 1!**

* * *

><p><em>Near Canalave City under an abandoned warehouse...<em>

Alexa slumped on the padded floor, and observed the padded walls with disgust. _"Why have they put me in here? One moment I'm talking to this nice trainer, and his Hypno was looking at me, and its eyes started to become really big, and I fell in, then I wake up here..."_ She kicked one of the walls, watching her foot bounce off the soft fabric.

* * *

><p><em>2 weeks ago...<em>

Alexa was a relatively normal 11 year old girl who had aspired to become an athlete, being extremely good at hurdles and short distance sprinting. She was relaxing in the lobby of her hotel after having won the 100m sprint and hurdles events when a trainer approached her with his Hypno. They had started talking about her victories when his Hypno started staring at her. She tried to avoid looking at it, but eventually their conversation switched to the trainer's Pokemon. When he gestured to his Hypno, she inadvertently glanced at the Hypno, which was all it needed to use Hypnosis on her. The 'trainer' kept her sedated after she fell asleep, and got two 'attendants' to 'help' her back to her bedroom.

Now? Now she was in the room.

* * *

><p>"Steven? Is that you?" Steven heard his father's voice echo down the hallway of their house.<p>

"Yeah, its me. Where's mom?" Steven replied.

"You know where she is. How many times have I told you not to talk about this? It's bad enough for her when she suffers from one of her-"

* * *

><p><em>...Steven was only 7 at the time when his father sat him down and tried to explain his mother's condition to him.<em>

"_Steven, your mother's been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. However, it isn't too serious and the only symptoms are occasional hallucinations, and increased paranoia."_

_It didn't sound too bad._

* * *

><p>_"-<em>episodes<em>." The last word had a lot of weight behind it, almost as if Steven's father was warning him not to speak of it again. Now that he had moved further inside the house he could hear his mother's voice mumbling away...

He began to understand why his other self had been so sullen. However, it still didn't seem too bad, although his father did seem worked up about it. It wasn't a problem he would not be able to deal with.

Things got worse at dinner. After sitting down at the table, Steven's father poised what Steven now knew was a loaded question.

"Steven, do you still want to become a trainer when you reach 11 years of age?" His father asked over the plates of microwaved crumbed fish, vegetables and bread. Steven's father subscribed to the idea of good food, but never managed to bridge the gap between a raw chicken and a fully roasted one. Needless to say, when Steven's mother was 'unable' to cook, they had what they could find in the freezer, with boiled vegetables and bread.

Steven, however, was more preoccupied with the question that had been broached to him. _"Do I want to become a trainer? It would be an adventure, and I've never really thought about what I wanted to be when I grow up." _at this point, his rehashed memory presented him with several images of his other self desperately wanting to be a trainer, watching all the shows dedicated to the coverage of the annual Orange League and any local competitions that were being held. He realised that his other self had amassed a huge store of information about battling and strategy. _"Hell, if the other me wanted to do it, why can't I want to do it too?"_

Having come to a conclusion, Steven replied, albeit a little uncertainly. "I guess..."

Wrong answer.

* * *

><p><em>Team Galactic Headquarters, Eterna City...<em>

Saturn, the last surviving member of Charon's four commanders (Charon, having disappeared, didn't count), paced down the steel framed corridors. Within, grunts bustled back and forth while at the same time managing to stay as far away from him.

Now the leader of Team Galactic, he literally strived for perfection, which was his goal. He wanted to make the perfect person. Several schemes had already been attempted, such as the implementing of Pokemon DNA with human, which not only failed, but also made Saturn determine that perfection was achieved not physically, but mentally. He wanted to be the most flawless person in the Pokemon world, and realised that any physical advantage could always be beaten by a mental one. Pondering this thought, he walked into the main conference room.

"Well?" All the scientists in the conference room stopped their conversation and looked at him, then at a female scientist, obviously their spokeswoman.

"We figure that at it's current state, your hunt for Mew is nearly impossible, but if Mew is to appear to or be caught by anyone, its to be Lucas. After giving up the position of Sinnoh Champion to Barry, who had previously defeated the Elite Four before losing to Lucas 2 years ago, he seems to have been hunting for something, travelling all over the region and spending several weeks at a time at one location before moving to another part of Sinnoh. We believ-"

"And this...'something'..." Saturn had perfected the art of actually saying quotation marks in a way that mocked your usage of whatever he had decided to 'quote'. " You think it is Mew, no?"

"Y-yes." The spokeswoman, now slightly rattled, nodded.

"Very well, I'll get one of my commanders to track him. Do you know where he is at the moment?"

"He was last seen in the mines near Orebrugh city, sir."

"Good." With that, she left the conference room, leaving the scientists to their own devices. One of them spoke up dejectedly.

"You didn't mention my idea..."

The 'spokeswoman' had by now recovered her composure, and angrily whirled upon the scientist

"I was going to mention your point about Team Rocket also hunting Mew and other rare Pokemon! However, did you realise that I was cut off? No! You just wanted to hear your, in my opinion, extremely stupid idea mentioned to him! Oh, and watched me get grilled over mentioning something like that!" With that, she stormed out of the room, in the opposite direction to the way Saturn had went.

* * *

><p>Alexa looked up, where a rectangular section of the wall had opened up, admitting one perso- <em>THE TRAINER! <em> Her eyes lit up, and she got into a fighting position before she noticed the 'trainer's Hypno behind him. He noticed her glare, and smirked.

"You got me...I'm no trainer! But that doesn't matter, seeing as you don't know where you are, why you're here, and how long you'll be here. Me? I can't answer any of those questions, but I'm here to show you who we are. With that, he pointed to his shirt, where a red capital 'R' was printed on it. "Yes, I know that Team Rocket don't operate in Sinnoh, but doesn't it make the best place for us to conduct research? Anyway, I don't know much, I'm just a field agent..." With that, he left, leaving a plate of food on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a kind of Microwaved TV dinner thing.

Alexa collapsed on the padded ground, banging her head on the soft surface. She realised that this was probably to be her last home, until...until what? What was next?

* * *

><p>Saturn sat in front of his four new commanders. Mercury, the twins Deimos and Phobos, and Pluto. Mercury was probably her most skilled commander, and as such couldn't be sent on what could be a wild goose chase. She couldn't spare two commanders, and Deimos couldn't work without Phobos and vice versa. Pluto seemed the most viable option.<p>

"Pluto, now that we've finished our debriefing for the day, I need you to stay back. I have a personal mission for you."

The other three commanders filed out of the room, leaving Saturn with Pluto. Pluto had short cut hair, and had it dyed black, having not liked her original blond coloured hair. She stared at Saturn with cold blue eyes.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Find and track Lucas. Do not let him out of your sight. We believe he is hunting for Mew, and he is much more likely to find him than we are. Once he sees Mew, take this" Saturn instructed, placing a purple and white Poke-ball with an 'M' inscripted on it. " this Master ball was once Cyrus'. Now it is mine, and I intend to catch Mew with it. It can hold any Pokemon, regardless of strength or health, so do not bother fighting Mew. You won't stand a chance. Head to the Orebrugh City mines. He was last seen there."

"Very well."

* * *

><p>"...How many times have I told you that Pokemon training will get you nowhere! Sure, you hear stories about the stars of the battling scene, like Lucas, Dawn or Barry... but for every star, how many failed trainers do you think there are? Do you think that battling at the lower levels is glamorous? Do you? Don't take a path that will only lead you into poverty!" Steven's father raged.<p>

Steven winced. It had been like this for about 5 minutes, with his father failing to recognise that he had practically repeated the same argument several times over.

"But-"

"No buts! I know you think you might be one of the lucky ones! Well, you're not! So give it up now! Most of the famous trainers have had training from a much younger age, and they use cannon fodder, like what _you_ (the word was spat out with such venom that Steven flinched again) want to become! Do _you_ want to be cannon fodder? Just pick a respectable profession! I never want to hear of this again! You understand? I wil-" He was inturrupted by a shriek from upstairs. He turned pale and rushed upstairs. Steven, just wanting to get away from it all, ran from the house.

He jogged to the nearby park and lay on the grass, dew soaking into the back of his shirt. _"Is that what being a trainer is about? Do most trainers ultimately fail? If they do, then why do so many try and become one?_ Resolving to do some research, he went to the Library (he wasn't prepared to go home yet, and the Library stayed open late on the weekdays anyway) and went to the section on careers. It was filled with an overwhelming number of books on all sorts of jobs. Steven ignored some tempting ones, (like Toy Tester or Pilot) and went to the section on Trainers. Selecting a book at random, he began to read.

* * *

><p>Giovanni looked up at the grunt entering his room. The grunt quickly dropped a stack of papers on his desk and hustled out. Picking up the papers, he began to read.<p>

_**On the Mutation of Human DNA into Pokemon, and Vice Versa.**_

_It appears, that after recent experiments in our test facility in Sinnoh that the transmutation of Human DNA into Pokemon DNA is impossible, due to the differences in the sugar bases that form the structure of Human and Pokemon DNA (for a detailed chemical analysis of the sugar bases see page 452.)_

_However, there are other options for the installation of human qualities in Pokemon, and several other alternatives not associated with the grafting of DNA are being considered:_

_1. The manufacture of Human DNA to matches Pokemon DNA, whilst conserving the Sugar Phosphate base structure of Human DNA_

_ The manufacture of Human DNA with the same function as Pokemon DNA is a widely discussed topic. However, there is no sure method of efficiently manufacturing Human DNA from scratch, and the technology accessible to us it not enough for DNA synthesis. If the possible rehabilitation of the chemicals Interproltein-b and Intraproltein-a are able to be..._

Giovanni sighed, and flipped to the back of the list of possible options. Years of reading his scientists' reports had taught him that his scientists always put the most unlikely options first. That being said, he moved to the last item on the list, some 300 pages into the document. He wondered who actually typed this stuff up, as no one could be that bored to ever read the whole document, could they?

_...and thus is unlikely to happen in the near future._

_43. The most likely of our options. This involves the transport of a Human consciousness from a human subject into that of a Pokemon's. Even though our knowledge of the Pokemon psyche is insufficient to allow a reverse transplant of a Pokemon's consciousness to ta Human mind, the opposite can be more easily achieved. We still have our doubts about whether the Human consciousness will graft to the Pokemon's consciousness, as we cannot remove the Pokemon's conscious mind. Further experimentation on this subject is required before a full evaluation of this procedure can be undertaken._

_One of our agents in the field has already bought in a suitable test subject for the full evaluation, and we are currently conducting field tests on other less suitable test subjects. The details of the test subject that is reserved for later use are on the next page._

_The technical processes involved with the execution of option 43_

_Option 43 is carried out by the careful downloading of the human mind into a container suitable for its storage. The only object that can store a consciousness is another brain, as our computers are nowhere near as complex to store even a fraction of the human mind. The implications of this mean that our data transfer needs to be direct, requiring an additional set of materials:_

_We will require:_

_10 metres of high-density optic fibre cabling_

_One litre of Interproltein-b (shaken, not stirred)_

_One..._

Releasing a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, Giovanni put down the stack of papers. He had read what he wanted. He couldn't make rare Pokemon from humans to be sold, and by all rights this part of the project had failed. However, he could possibly still use some Pokemon with human-level intelligence, so he gave the project the go ahead, pending further funding based on results.

* * *

><p>The results of his search were staggering. Steven found out that hundreds of thousands of children around the world set out to become a Pokemon trainer every year, and that only several thousand ended up entering into training professionally, with a large number never getting more than 3 or so badges. However, the career opportunities for an ex-trainer were still amazing, ranging from work in breeding, entry into several universities, contests and practical biology, depending on how much time the trainer had spent training his or her pokemon. However, these were still subjects which all appealed to him (except maybe not the contests... he didn't quite like the idea of contests), and as such, he didn't care what his father said. He was going to be a trainer, and even if he failed, he'd still have a pretty good future ahead of him.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, In limbo...<em>

Celebi glanced at the other legendaries. "First off, I have to say that Palkia and Arceus have both been detained, but they have already been informed of the current situation. Needless to say, Arceus now is aware of the boy's presence."

Lugia cocked his head "What is this boy meant to do? What was the difference between him and the 'other' him?"

Inwardly, Celebi rolled his eyes. "Because, this boy is still going to try being a trainer, whereas the other boy would have eventually listened to his father. This issue is now resolved. Now, onto other matters. The current of the situation in Unova with regards to Team Plasma is improving..."

After the meeting, Celebi flew over to where Palkia stood waiting at Spear Pillar. Once Palkia saw Celebi, she immediately began shouting. "Hey! You told me the meeting was here!"

"It was, but most of the legendaries couldn't make it physically, so we went limbo instead. I forgot to tell you. To recap, the only topic of note was that the legendaries all now know of the boy's existence. Even Arceus"

"So Arceus was there?" Palkia questioned, slightly puzzled. Arceus didn't usually turn up the the Legendaries' meetings.

"Yes, he was." Came the reply.

* * *

><p><strong>I have to thank the 7 reviewers who have taken the time to write something about my story, especially CrazyJosie and Tsaukpaetra (how do you say that?) who have submitted multiple reviews.<strong>


	4. Ad Break

**I have to clear up some ambiguity about last chapter. The **_**Two weeks ago**_** flashback was a flashback, and everything in this fic, as of now, happens in real time. So as Alexa is lounging in her cell, Steven is at his home arguing with his father.**

**Also, this is mainly in response to ****Tsaukpaetra (I still don't get the pronunciation of your name) , but Arceus still DOSEN'T know who Steven is. Did you all just assume Celebi told the truth? He told Palkia that Arceus was at the meeting, even when he wasn't...isn't that a little fishy? Anyway, I clear that up in this chapter.**

**Apparently there's supposed to be some sort of Disclaimer at the beginning of the chapter. So here. I don't own what isn't mine, and I own what's mine! Happy?**

* * *

><p><em>Near Canalave City under the abandoned warehouse...<em>

Alexa woke up, not realising that she had fallen asleep. Now feeling hungry, she went to her TV dinner and ate it hungrily. Having nothing to do, she started jogging around the walls of her cell, which was surprisingly large for a cell. The spongy floor made it easy for her to run around in, but after doing countless laps round the cell she got bored. As she sat down, wondering what to do next, the door opened. This time, it wasn't the 'trainer', but another adult, this time a female. She had jet black hair that she wore long and extremely straight, and judging by the overcoat she was wearing, a scientist (I know...scientists ALWAYS wear coats, but seriously, they do!).

"Hello, I believe that you may have cause to be a little upset and concerned for your safety, but-"

Alexa could barely contain her rage. As soon she had seen another person walk in, she immediately jumped into a fighting stance and ran at the scientist fists outstretched. However, just before she reached the scientist, she crashed into a transparent glass boundary that must have lowered before she entered. _"I guess that's why they waited for me to finish running before coming in..." _Alice thought, clutching her face.

"-in the region" The female scientist had continued speaking, and Alice hadn't heard what she had said.

"What?"

"I said, that you were in the hands of some of the most qualified and well trained professional neurosurgeons in the region"

"And that is supposed to comfort me how? You're going to use me as a guinea pig, aren't you?" Alexa could feel her rage building up again, but there was nothing she could do to the person behind the wall.

"That is the intention, but that won't happen for a while. I'm here to ask if you would like some more comfortable accommodation while you wait for your...treatment."

Alexa began to feel uneasy. How long was she going to be cooped up here? Still, anywhere was better than this cushioned box. "Fine."

* * *

><p>After Palkia left, Celebi wandered around Spear Pillar for a while, lost in his own thoughts.<p>

"_Arceus still has no knowledge of the boy, and the other legendaries all believe that he knows. Then why do I feel that something has been done wrong? Something I told Palkia...Wait...No...Damn! I need to get to Palkia, or she's going to tell everyone else by accident, and ruin everything!"_

With that, Celebi vanished into the dim light that surrounded Spear Pillar.

* * *

><p>Steven went to Aron's house after school the next day, and even school didn't seem so bad. With Isrea and Aron talking to him now, it didn't seem so lonely. Unbeknownest to Steven, some of the other students were also wondering what was happening to him.<p>

Walking into Aron's house, Aron explained his situation to Steven.

"Even though technically I live at Floarmoa Orphanage, my father had set aside two houses to be given to whatever orphanage I happened to end up in, on the sole condition that I get to live in one of the houses by myself if I wanted to." It turned out that Steven's family had been very well off, (which explained why they owned a car) and his father was responsible for the invention of the Luxury Ball and the Glass Ball. The Glass Ball, invented just before his death allowed for Pokemon to be captured, but upon being let out of the ball had no obligation to stay with the trainer. Pokemon captured by a Glass Ball couldn't be released as they hadn't been truly been caught in the first place.

This meant that the Glass Ball was rarely used by trainers upon its release, but gained significant usage among rescuers of Wild Pokemon, as it provided them with an easy mode of transport without actually catching the Pokemon. Needless to say, the ball was transparent, but not actually made out of glass, just a type of perspex. But, as Aron explained to Steven, the 'Plastic Ball' didn't really sound that great from a marketing point of view. As they walked into Aron's bedroom, he noticed small several plinths lined up on the other end of the room. Each had a ball on it.

"In here, I have a copy of every type of ball released by Sliph Co. Nearly all of these balls are real, and can capture Pokemon, except of course the Glass and Master Balls, mainly because that's a fake Master Ball." Aron seemed a little sad as he inspected the 'Master' Ball plinth. "But hey! You want to watch TV? I got satellite!"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>Lucas looked at the object he had found in the Orebrugh Mines after weeks of searching. It was a square of brown metal. Smiling, he placed it into his backpack before calling out his Staraptor and flying off.<p>

Pluto watched the trainer leave, and withdrew her own Pokemon, a Honchrow, and proceeded to follow Lucas at a safe distance.

"_What is he looking for?"_

* * *

><p>Looking through all the TV channels on offer, hadn't really begun to understand how Pokemon had changed the world. Even though there wern't any at school, as they wern't allowed, there were whole channels dedicated to one Pokemon. However, he was looking for the sports channels, and he found them being run by ESPeoN Sports (<em><strong>crappy name, but I couldn't resist the temptation...<strong>_) where he found a replay of the most recent battle between Barry and Aaron, the first of the Elite Four at the time, who specialised in Bug Pokemon. Barry and Aaron showed each other the Pokemon they were using, Barry using a Heracross, Snorlax, Rapidash, Empoleon and Staraptor (choosing not to use his Roserade) and Aaron using his Vespiquen, Heracross, Yanmega, Scizor and Draipon.

Before starting the battle, Steven revised the memories of his other self. Pokemon Battles were a little different to the ones he knew from the Pokemon Games. Instead of each Pokemon only knowing 4 moves, they could learn a lot more at a time, and items were usually banned in Pokemon Battles, because of the development of more and more powerful items. Battling wasn't turn-based either, and many of the faster Pokemon would try and set up 'combos' which didn't give their opponent time to retaliate, whilst slower Pokemon would have to trick faster ones into running into one of their attacks, calling for a more strategic approach. At higher levels, trainers hardly spoke during battle, having already versed their Pokemon in the strategies that they were to execute, as calling out moves all the time had gotten too slow. It was often a mark of a good trainer if he or she didn't speak once during a battle, and you'd know that you had interrupted a trainer's strategy when he or she was forced to make an order.

Barry and Aaron both walked to the opposite corner of the Pokemon stadium that they were battling in, and took out their first Pokemon. Aaron led with Vespiquen, a bee like Pokemon with an abdomen resembling a ballgown.

"Hmm, that's interesting, they both opened resistant Pokemon against each other..." Aron, who had much more experience with Pokemon battles than Steven did, having seen many of them with his father, was helping Steven with the occasional comment.

Having a higher speed, Heracross quickly flew at Vespiquen, a blue version of Heracross trailing out in front of him, which slammed into the Vespiquen, who couldn't avoid it. As she flew away, Heracross followed up with a Night slash, which sent Vespiquen back even further.

"I'd forgotten that Heracross has one super-effective move against Vespiquen, Aerial Ace...looks like Heracross has this one in the bag..."Aron mused to himself.

However, Vespiquen managed to avoid the next Night slash, so Heracross, having lost his combo, reverted back to using Aerial Ace due to the accuracy bonus it provided. It looked like Vespiquen was preparing her Power Gem for a last ditch attack, but then Aaron shouted out.

"No! Use Destiny Bond!"

Vespiquen, now turning purple as a purple ring appeared behind her, appeared to be smiling, as Heracross flew at her, unable to attempt missing due to Aerial Ace's guaranteed accuracy. He crashed into Vespiquen, and they both flew through the purple ring, and both emerged on the other side unconscious.

As Aaron had shouted out to use Destiny Bond, Aron had jumped up with his hands over his mouth. On the television, the audience had the same look of shock on their face. Aaron had managed to trick Heracross into flying straight into the Destiny Bond of a much slower Pokemon.

* * *

><p>Celebi caught up to Palkia, who was heading over to Lake Valor. Hearing her name being shouted out, Palkia turned around. Celebi had definitely been acting suspiciously as of late, especially about his sudden change of heart and reversing his decision about not telling Arceus about Steven.<p>

"Palkia!"

"Yes, what do you want?"

"Ok, I need to tell you everything, about what is fated to happen to Steven, why I gave you the wrong location of our meeting, and more importantly, why Arceus still doesn't know who Steven is... I haven't been entirely truthful."

"_**WHAT?**_"

* * *

><p>Barry had decided to use his Snorlax second, while Aaron pulled out his Heracross.<p>

"Hmm, personally, I would have decided to use Roserade instead of Snorlax, becuase he's so slow, but I guess that his attacks won't really be inturrupted by Heracross' slashing because of his size. Heracross will probably go for a standard Brick Break-Close Combat combo before using take down...honestly, why is Barry using Snorlax?" Aron was mulling over the next set of Pokemon chosen to battle.

On the television, Heracross had already started flying towards Snorlax, but before it could do much damage against Snorlax, it was heavily thrown back by an unknown force. Snorlax had not moved.

"Retaliate? Barry's been importing TM's from Unova I see...still Snorlax gets the attack boost from it being a normal move AND a Pokemon having fainted the previous turn." Aron was clearly impressed by Barry's strategy.

As Heracross was getting up, Snorlax got up and crossed his arms. From them, a beam came out and flew past Heracross to set up a red barrier. The time it took for Snorlax to use block allowed Heracross to come back at Snorlax, albeit a little more cautiously. This extra hesatation was all Snorlax needed to yawn, and Heracross started to look a little sleepy. Aaron began to look worried.

Barry, to everyone's surprise, switched out Snorlax and sent in his Rapidash. The flaming horse started glowing white, and a stone idol appeared infront of it. Rapidash also looked a little weaker. Heracross by now had also fallen asleep, and as such Rapidash was in a perfect position to finish off the already weakened Pokemon. However, instead of using a powerful fire attack to abuse the super-effectiveness of fire-type against bug-type, Rapidash started making an echoing sound, causing Heracross to shift in his sleep. Every time Rapidash made the sound, Heracross seemed to become more agitated. Suddenly, after a few more pulses of the sound, the red barrier that Snorlax had made disappeared, signifying that Heracross had fainted.

"Smart, Barry used Echoed Voice, because the power of Echoed Voice increases with every use, eventually becoming a very powerful attack. Unova certainly has some good TM's." Aron was narrating again. "Now, Aaron's in a tight situation, because he can't send Scizor out because of his 4x weakness against fire, and his Yanmega is also weak against fire. He only really has one choice, his most powerful pokemon, but how will Drapion stand up to a nearly fully charged Echoed Voice?

As it turned out, not very long. Drapion made his own substitute, and went crazy at Rapidash's one, but Rapidash's Echoed Voice, now nearly fully charged, easily took down Drapion's substitute and hit Drapion once before Rapidash's own substitute was taken down. Realising that Drapion was about to get taken down by Rapidash's Echoed Voice, Aaron called for a Shadow Ball, which Drapion got off just before getting hit by Rapidash's Echoed Voice. However, Rapidash got hit by the shadow ball, which meant that her Echoed Voice was reset to it's original weak strength (**_A/N: Echoed Voice and Fury Swipes work like Rollout in this world. If the attack is interrupted, then its power is reset. A small change I found it necessary to make_**).

"Wow, that was an ingenious setup for Echoed Voice, Aaron is kinda screwed now, his last two Pokemon are both weak against fire and Aaron's probably going to switch in Yanmega, who isn't as weak against fire." Barry must have thought the same as Aaron, as he also withdrew Rapidash and bought in Staraptor.

Having switched in Staraptor first, having predicted Aaron's switching in of Yanmega, Staraptor immediately used Quick Attack to get to Yanmega before it could react, before using Wing Attack and Aerial Ace, with the intention of nearly knocking out Yanmega before it had a chance to do anything. However, Wing Attack knocked Yanmega far back enough for it to use Ancient Power, which was super-effective against Staraptor. However, Staraptor had already started her Aerial Ace, and Yanmega was sent back even further. Realising that the situation was hopeless for Yanmega, Aaron ordered a U-turn and switched in Scizor.

Scizor, taking advantage of the U-turn knocking Staraptor back a little, swept his arms around him, causing a sandstorm to brew. While Staraptor was trying to get sand out of her eyes, Scizor glowed red and then silver, before flying towards the grounded Staraptor.

"Smart, Staraptor can't see where she's going now, Scizor's defence and speed is buffed with Agility and Iron defense, and the sandstorm will slowly whittle down Staraptor's health. Aaron might still have a chance with his Scizor." Aron commented, engrossed with the battle that was taking place.

Scizor swung his pincers at Staraptor at lightning speed, hitting her twice, before feinting away from a desperately thrown out Wing Attack (dealing a little damage in the process again), whittling down her health with the sandstorm before nearly finishing Staraptor off with Iron head.

"Starapto-" Barry, realising that Staraptor was clsoe to fainting, tried to call her back

"Scizor, Pursuit!"

"-r, Get back!"

The red beam that enveloped Staraptor turned black, and retracted with Staraptor. However, the black beam had also hurt Staraptor and knocked it out. Barry, face set in a painful grimace, sent out the last of his unused Pokemon, Empoleon.

"Barry's careful now. He doesn't want to risk his Rapidash getting outmatched by Scizor's now high speed and defence, so he's saving her, just in case. Snorlax is out of this battle, really, because he's just too slow."

The blue Emperor Pokemon stood there and stared at Scizor, who stared back. The impasse continued for several seconds before Scizor dissapeared, several copies of him appearing at once. Interestingly, Empoleon didn't even react to the Double Team, choosing just to stand there, even when he started to get hit by Scizor's Brick Breaks. Empoleon took three hits in a row without attempting to fight back, looking decidedly the worse after each hit, before making his first move. Before Scizor's fourth Brick break landed, Empoleon blasted into the air, propelled by water, before slamming back into the back of Scizor, knocking him back several meters. Then, getting up before Scizor did, he waved his flippers and summoned a swriling vortex of water, trapping Scizor inside. As Scizor tried to get out of the Whirlpool, Empoleon opened its beak and sent a stream of frothy water at Scizor. When that wasn't enough to knock Scizor out, Empoleon repeated the move. This time, Scizor stopped struggling, and was recalled by Aaron, who now had a resigned look on his face.

Back at Aron's house, Aron was marvelling at Empoleon's strategy. "Wow! Empoleon let Scizor get careless and weaken Empoleon down to about half health just so Empoleon could use Aqua Jet, one of the fastest attacks a Pokemon can learn, before following up by a boosted brine attack because of Empoleon's water type... I'm impressed."

Aaron sent out his battered Yanmega, which took one look at Empoleon, who was swaggering around, and proceeded to slash itself in the face, knocking out the confused Pokemon and ending the match. Aaron recalled his Pokemon and walked towards Barry to shake hands.

Aron turned off the TV, saying "Barry's an excellent strategist, but he still couldn't beat Lucas' Pokemon when they fought. Did you know that Barry has never beaten Lucas? Come on, lets go outside and do something else, like play Racquetball!" (Steven remembered that some sports in his original world still existed in the Pokemon world, but under slightly different names)

* * *

><p>Alexa looked at her new room. Once she had agreed to the transfer, she had been knocked out and had woken up in it. It was remarkably well furnished, and high up. She could have forgotten she was a prisioner and in a 5-star hotel, but there was just something about the room that didn't let her forget...<p>

Maybe it was the cameras in the corners of the room.

Or the fact that the windows were welded shut.

Or maybe the observation that her front door, for some unknown reason, didn't have a handle on it.

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: This was a crappy chapter! I didn't say one word!<strong>

**Alexa: Actually... you DID say one word... just one, mind you...**

**Steven: Oh...I did? Awesome! This was a great chapter!**

**Alexa:...**

**Did you also know that Racquetball is actually a sport, and it's a lot like tennis? I also didn't know that the first member of the Elite Four was Aaron, so I apologise for the confusion between Aaron and Aron.**


	5. The Calm

Alexa was bored. Granted, she wasn't as bored as she was in that room, but she'd stayed in this pseudo-hotel for at least three weeks, or more. She hadn't really bothered to keep count. The good news? She had a TV, and they had provided her with movies and the occasional game. She noticed however, that she had no Internet access, and as such no method of contacting the outside world. The hotel-place she was stuck in also had a small gym and pool, so she kept herself fit, figuring that there was only so much time you could spend sleeping or in front of the TV. Food came in through a dumbwaiter-like system every day at exactly 8 AM, 1 PM and 7PM. As such, her body had adopted a daily routine, and she had gotten to know some of the soaps on the TV really well...a little too well...

She walked into the guest room...still wondering why it was there...after all, she wouldn't be expecting any visitors...she had had a few conversations with that female scientist and the 'trainer' but it wasn't exactly quality time. Funny thing was that the scientist seemed intent on asking her how she felt...

Looking at the wardrobe installed in the guest room, she observed her appearance. Her olive skin, extremely tanned by the time she spent training and playing sports outside, had started to fade back to its original peachy colour. Her sandy brown hair was now shoulder length (she'd previously kept it short, it had just interfered with her running) and she was quite interested to see how she would look with long hair. As she ran her hand through her hair, she noticed a bump that hadn't been there before

_"Strange"_

* * *

><p>It'd been three weeks since the 'Great Plane Crash' as Steven liked to remember it (he left earth before the term September 911 was coined) and he had begun to settle into regular life. He'd learnt to avoid the topic of Pokemon training with his father, but avidly talked about it with Aron. One of their favorite pastimes was, while watching a televised battle, predicting the types of strategies that one opponent would use against each other. Although Aron was usually correct, Steven had begun to get better at predicting the actions of some of the weaker Pokemon trainers...once picking a move that even Aron hadn't seen coming. He also learnt to stay away from his mother during her 'episodes' and had begun a borrowing some books on Pokemon training, hiding them between his mattress and the beams supporting the mattress.

School was definitely more interesting than the other school that he had known, as there was less homework being given out, but the subjects were more challenging. The students were no longer openly hostile with him but weren't friendly towards him either.

Still, it was an improvement.

* * *

><p>Palkia was fuming. Celebi had explained everything to her, and it turned out that all the legendaries had been <em>manipulated <em>by him. So..._ easily._ In her rage, she punched the wall of the cave she was staying in at the time, leaving a sizable dent in the wall. What was worse about everyone being manipulated so easily was that she couldn't tell anyone. Now she knew why Arceus couldn't know who the boy was, she couldn't endanger Arceus' future (and of course, most of the rest of the world) by revealing Celebi's deceit.

However, she knew that when the sh- when everything hit the fan... she would have to face the music with Celebi for being her accomplice... and she hated that small green furry..._thing_ for every little bit of it.

* * *

><p>Celebi wasn't feeling too crash-hot about everything either. By telling Palkia her plan, he had introduced an unknown factor into it, and Celebi wasn't good at improvising...seeing as he generally saw things coming way before anyone else...why had he told Palkia Arceus was at the meeting? Ugh. He was lucky he had discovered his mistake before she had asked the other legendaries what Areceus had said at the meeting...and then many many many angry legendaries would be on his case.<p>

He should have told her he'd gone and seen Arceus in person. Hindsight was a wonderful thing, wasn't it? Especially to a time-travelling Pokemon who generally then went back and fixed whatever was wrong. However, this time he didn't want to. There were too many things that could go wrong.

* * *

><p>Steven was feeling pretty excited... today was the day of their annual excursion to the Pokemon Center in Jubilife City, and it'd be his first time out of Floaroma. As he left his house earlier than usual, he missed the mailman coming to deliver his letters. Usually they would just acknowledge each other as Steven jogged to school, but this time, Steven left early. At school, his whole year (some 40 of them) all piled into the school's only vehicle, a new bus, and headed off to Jubilife City.<p>

At the same time as always, the mailman arrived, and slid a letter into the letterbox. It was an inconspicuous one, from the library.

* * *

><p>Alexa tried to get a better look at the bump, and after grabbing the handheld vanity mirror that was in the bathroom, she managed to use that and the wardrobe mirror to get a view of the bump. Instead of seeing a pimple or whatever, she saw a pink scar, criss-crossed with several stitches. She clenched her fists, and slowly walked back to her bed before collapsing onto it and burying her face in her pillow.<p>

They had already started their experiments. There wasn't much she could do about it, but punching the pillow was better than doing nothing.

Thump.

* * *

><p>The idyllic nature of Floaroma city was one thing, but Jubilife city was much more exiting for Steven. For one, it was much more like the cities that he was used to, albeit with more infrastructure for pedestrians, he saw much more Pokemon around. The residents of Floaroma city were generally older retirees or professional horticulturists, who generally didn't own any Pokemon apart from Roselia or Budew, and the occasional Sunflora imported from Johto. This meant that the Pokemon he generally saw, if there were any, consisted of wildlife that had flown into town, which meant Starly...lots and lots of Starly...<p>

However, because Jubilife was a major stopping point for many starting trainers and for trainers heading to Canalave or prospective Rangers heading to the Ranger training school in Almia to the south, there was much more variety in the Pokemon that he saw. As many trainers liked to have some of their Pokemon out of their balls while travelling, Steven was treated to the sight of many Pokemon that even his 'other' self had only heard about. Most of the Pokemon he saw were Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup, those being the original starters and Jubilife being the first major city any new trainer went to, but he saw Shinx, some Meditite, many Buizel and once even thought he might had glimpsed a Lucario.

As they neared the Pokemon Center, they passed near the Landing Bay. Several cities, fed up with having trainers land wherever they liked within the city, decided to build Landing Bays, where trainers could land their bird Pokemon without worrying about minor issues, such as landing on someone, in front of a car or on private property. Being early in the morning on a weekday, the Landing Bay was a hive of activity, with several bird Pokemon arriving and leaving every few minutes. Even the small section cordoned off to teleport users was seeing pretty heavy use. A Staraptor landed, and as its owner got off and recalled the Staraptor, someone shouted.

"Hey!"

The owner, a 15-year old trainer with blond hair and grey eyes, looked around at the source of the voice. It came from one of the few people who worked there. The Landing Bay was basically an entry point and thus needed little maintenance. The security guard (for that was what he was) jogged over and pointed at the ground, upon which lay a bright yellow square of metal. The trainer's eyes turned wide and he picked up the square of metal, before placing it in the bag.

"Holy Mother of- Wow, whoever you are...thanks for telling me I dropped that plat- that plaque... it was... a family heirloom and it would have been devastating if I'd lost it." The blond trainer shook the security guard's hand before walking off, unzipping the blue jacket that he had been wearing to ward off the cold whilst flying.

As they continued towards the Pokemon Center, Aron turned to Steven "Have you got the feeling that he wasn't being quite truthful?"

Steven shrugged "I guess...does it really matter?"

* * *

><p>Giovanni sat at his desk, and began to read the daily 'newspaper' that his deputy bought in. The 'newspaper' was a list of how all the projects were going, and what had been done overnight. He skimmed over most of the topics, noting that the female scientist asking for all that fibre optic cabling had actually started her experiment on her test subject..."<em>what was her name?"<em> Flipping back to the original summary, he went and read the whole article

_**Progress Report on the Transport of Human Consciousness**_

_Recieving the shipments some 3 weeks ago, the chip has been implanted in the subjects head. The 3 week period of healing has nearly been completed, and we may start on the experiment in 1 day. The download and upload time will take at least 15 months. _Giovanni swore._ However, this might be able to be shortened, as one of my interns came up with the idea of placing the subject, Alexa, into an environment with more stimuli than a padded cell. We will have to wait at least 1 month until a revised time frame can be revised._

_-Sonya Tanem._

"_15 months..."_ Giovanni's mind raced _"Why does this take so long? How am I meant to make anything of this project? I'll still see if the project works. If it does, then I will __**make**__ them find a faster method of transport..."_

* * *

><p>As Steven's group approached the Pokemon Centre, they were approached by a woman with short-cut black hair. She seemed to be wearing a white jumpsuit adorned with a small golden 'G' on the left side of the zipper.<p>

"I've let my friend get the jump on me," she said, obviously out of breath, "He wears a blue jacket with red shorts and he was flying a Staraptor. When he landed he dropped something..."

"Like a yellow metal thingie?" Aron enquired.

"Yes! That! Do you know where he went?" She pleaded, looking desperate.

"Err...not really, he kinda went that way..." Steven answered for Aron, gesturing vaguely towards the TV station.

"Ok! Thanks!" With that, the strange woman ran off.

As she did, Pluto murmured to herself "So... you have more of those metal squares, do you? How many? I wonder..."

* * *

><p>The Pokemon Center was a bit of a non-event for Steven. It was basically a bigger and more well air-conditioned version of the Floaroma one. They had a look at the new Pokemon restorer machine that Floaroma didn't have, and Steven couldn't help thinking <em>"This was what we came here for? Really? Some Pokeball machine? I guess it was really just to give us an excuse to get out of floaroma..."<em>

After filling out the worksheet they'd been given on the Pokemon Centre, they got back into the bus and headed home.

On the bus, Isrea, who(m?) had become pretty good friends with Steven and Aron, asked them

"You know that trainer, he looked a lot like Lucas... if it wasn't for that blond hair..."

"I thought the same thing, you know...that guy must get asked for autographs a lot...heh." Aron mused.

* * *

><p>Lucas walked down Main Street in Jubilife, still trying to get over the shock of nearly having lost one of the 10 plates he had.<p>

"_If I'd have left it there... I probably would never have seen it again...I really have to be more careful..."_

After booking into his hotel room, he jumped into the shower, grabbing some hair dye as the hot water started spurting from the shower head.

"_I really hate this stuff, but at least I don't get recoginsed so much...maybe I should also think about coloured contacts...I mean, how many people have grey eyes?" _He mused, rubbing the yellow lotion into his hair.

* * *

><p>Alexa was woken by the sound of footsteps behind her door. Sneaking up to it and placing her ear to the door, she tried to make out as many words as she could.<p>

"_...mmmbdk...about the chip...nngngnmb...start process soonssdfqew...let me talk onceeeekdlsf...fine, its your eadsperimentttttt..."_

She jumped back from the door and dived on her bed when she heard the doorknob (or was it a door handle? She couldn't see the other side of the door) turn.

The same female scientist walked in, smiling, which given the circumstances Alexa did not feel inclined to return. The smile faded a little.

"I see you've found out about the chip, but the experiment hasn't started yet, so I haven't lied to you...so how do you like your new home?"

"I hate it! Why don't you just let me out? Is it really necessary to keep me here? How long are you going to keep me here? What are you doing to me? Who are you?" The questions came faster than the scientist could answer them. The scientist kept her smile, and tried her best to answer the questions, not that Alexa cared that much.

"Well, I can't let you out, and it is necessary to keep you here. I cannot tell you what we are doing, as that might interfere with the experiment, but I can tell you my name. It is Sonya Tanem, and as to how long you'll be here, we can't be sure, but _you_" That word had a heavy emphasis on it, as though Sonya were enjoying an inside joke "will be here for around another 15 months or so...after that...I really can't tell..." Her smile grew wider as Alexa turned pale, before leaving the room.

As she left, Alexa's mind was still reeling from the shock of being forced into solitary confinement for so long...as the door opened again, from the outside, a detached part of her brain noted that the door had a handle, not a doorknob.

Alexa heard Sonya's voice say, off in the distance

"Start."

And then...

_Alexa saw black. Glorious __**black**__, all around her._

_And in the distance..._

* * *

><p><strong>Firstly, to ChocolateLover, the disclaimer was my idea of a joke, as I'm pretty much sure that parodies and spin-offs are perfectly legal in a published format, unless the author has specified for there not to be any spin-offs, hence the list of authors whose work we cannot base our work off. <strong>

**Secondly, CrazyJosie has been kind enough to tell me that Brine's power only increases if the target's HP is below 50%, but I dunno if I want to think up of another ending...I could just say that Aron got confused, and Empoleon just has a REALLY powerful Brine attack...**

**Finally, to Cyberfire22. I invented Glass balls because I'd never heard of the Pokemon Ranger capture stylus thing, but I had a look at them, and I think I'll stick with the Glass Balls... because the capture style with the stylus seems to be a little...weird.**

**Also, the Underground doesn't exist in this story. What little knowledge I have about the Sinnoh region need not be made more obvious by me having never played in the Underground. I played Platnium until fighting Giratina, and never used the Underground once, so for me, it doesn't exist.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Nice... I actually said real stuff this time!<strong>

**Alexa: Black...**

**Steven: Hey, you alright?**

**Alexa: Black...**

**Steven: You're boring.**


	6. The Storm

**Hmm... this is going to be a big chapter for Steven. And Alexa, I guess...**

**The calm comes before the storm? Haw haw haw. I'll show myself out now.**

**DISCLAIMER: DIS...claim...err... I dunno what to put here (apart from that really bad pun)...something about ownership? I'll go ask one of the lawyers camped outside my front door...maybe they'll know.**

* * *

><p><em>And in the distance...<em>

_She saw a sphere, dancing with multicoloured lights..._

_And in the sphere, she saw lightning, connecting into the center of the sphere..._

_And in the centre of the sphere..._

_She saw..._

_Exactly..._

_**Everything...**_

* * *

><p>Sonya turned to Kova, the 'trainer' who had caught Alexa and the owner of her new 'donor' body. She didn't quite trust Kova, as he didn't answer to her, but to Giovanni, and that worried her. She was distracted from her thoughts by the very man himself.<p>

Kova slumped into a sofa, knocking over a glass. As it shattered on the ground, he jumped at his seat. "What? it was an accident! I-" Noticing that Sonya was still deep in thought, he tried to cover up his slip by asking another question.

"So, its started? They're downloading as we speak?"

"Hmm? Ahh...yes. Basically, the chip cuts out the way in which her brain responds to certain stimuli, and copies it over to the...other one."

"What? So you mean that once she responds to something, its copied and then-" Kova was interrupted by Sonya, who knew exactly what he was driving at.

"And then she won't be able to respond to that stimuli again. We start from rarely used experiences, like old memories, a barely-remembered song and dreams. A lot of information goes through the brain very quickly at night, and only very little of it is actually recognised, perceived as thought, and remembered the next morning."

"I still don't get what Giovanni sees out of this though...what's mind swapping going to do for him?" Sonya wanted to slap him. _"MIND SWAPPING? Arrgh...he doesn't understand..."_ Her eyes grew wide.

"WHAT is that DOING there!" She shrieked. Kova grimaced on his way to the bathroom. He hadn't gotten out fast enough...

* * *

><p>As Steven walked home from school, chatting with Aron, he couldn't get something out of his mind. Something about that woman...<p>

"That woman...she didn't seem...normal, did she?"

"Huh?" Aron was thinking the same thoughts, but about the blond trainer.

"That woman who asked us about that trainer on the Staraptor, the one who dropped that square thingy." Steven persisted.

"Actually...it was more of a rectangle." Aron could be really thick sometimes, for someone of his intelligence.

"No...that 'G' symbol..." Steven was stopped from further pursuing that particular train of thought by Aron parting ways, leaving down the pathway to his house. "Ahh...forget it! I'll tell you about it tomorrow! See ya!" Receiving a wave in response, Steven continued on his way back home.

* * *

><p>It had taken Pluto nearly 5 hours of wheedling (and about 200 dollars) at several hotels before she found the hotel that Lucas was staying at. Padding up some floors, she was heading to the room she had booked next to Lucas' room when she heard some glass break, and the preceding conversation afterwards.<p>

She was about to tune them out when she heard the male voice say

"_...what Giovanni sees out of this...mind swapping going to do..."_

Pluto was going to try listening for a little longer but was deafened by the woman's voice.

"WHAT is that DOING there?"

Clutching at her ear, she staggered off, trying to look as inconspicuous as she could while holding one ear in pain.

Saturn would want to know.

* * *

><p>Lucas, having dozed off, was woken up by a woman screaming. Not really wanting to get out of bed, he checked his watch. 6:30 PM? Ahh...it was time for dinner. Stretching out his still sore muscles from the flight he had just had with Staraptor, Lucas slid out his bed, and out the door, still yawning.<p>

He passed a woman in a white jumpsuit and short cut black hair, holding one ear in pain. _"I don't envy her. She must have been closer to that scream than I was...wonder why she's only holding one ear?"_

Ready for anything any restaurant could throw at him, he set out of the hotel and into the city, which had, as always, turned into a forest of neon tubing and harsh lighting.

* * *

><p><em>Back in that abandoned warehouse near Canalave City... (<em>_**I still haven't thought of a better name...ugh)**_

_Several technicians were relaxing, seeing as the hardest part of their job was over. The connection had been made and the transfer of information from the subjects mind had begun without any difficulties._

_One of them, feeling a bit boisterous after achieving such a monumental task asked "Why did Sonya get the 5-star hotel in Jubilife anyway? We did all the hard work..."_

_A thwack to the back of the head and a finger pointed at the security cameras shut him up._

* * *

><p><em>Alexa saw everything...within the center of the sphere...was her. Her thoughts, actions, past memories, emotions...and fears.<em>

_There was activity all around the sphere, but what was happening outside the center was nothing compared to what was inside. Outside the 'core' of the sphere, she saw impulses flashing along pylons of light, and realised that those impulses represented her bodily functions. Her heart beating, her lungs breathing, her spleen doing...whatever it was meant to be doing._

_That must mean that the core..._

_THE CORE!_

_It was leaking..._

_leaking..._

_leak...i...n..._

* * *

><p>As soon as Steven stepped past the threshold of his house, he noticed that something was wrong.<p>

It was too quiet.

* * *

><p>Kova was annoyed. He'd been forced to clean up the broken glass after trying to order room service. Apparently, letting the room service see the apparatus that controlled the flow of information from the subject next door's head to...whatever would be stupid.<p>

So here he was, picking up ever smaller and smaller pieces of glass while Sonya was out enjoying herself...

Reckoning that he'd finished his job, he chucked the glass into the bin, and set out into Jubilife, intending to make the most of the time he had left that night.

As he left, he left the door open behind him, expecting the automatic spring-thingy on the doors to close themselves. He didn't notice a woman in a white tracksuit sneaking up to and leaning, ever so lightly, against the door, keeping it ajar.

* * *

><p>"<em>What<em>...is the meaning of..._this_?" Steven's father wasn't looking very good. In fact, he looked ready to explode. In his clenched fist was a sheet of paper. Steven wondered what was on it. "I trusted you...and you _lied_ to me! Why won't you listen?" He continued. Steven's father chucked the paper on the ground, and begun to head upstairs. "I'm going to check on your mother. She's having one of her-she's not well. I'll be back in 2 minutes, and you _better_ have a good explanation for _that_." The last word was punctuated by Steven's father's shaking hand pointing once more at the piece of paper, now crumpled on the floor.

Puzzled, Steven went to read the paper.

_Dear Steven B,_

_We would like to inform you that one or more of your books is now overdue. If you do not return this book within 4 days, a 15 dollar fine shall be applied to your guardian's account. If you do not return this book within 15 days, and fail to then prove you know of the book(s) whereabouts, then we shall have to incur the cost(s) of all borrowed items._

_Borrowed book(s):_

_1. Labyrinths: The Secrets by Ino Noting_

_2. Shaymin and the History of Floaroma Town by The Wikamedia Foundation_

_**Overdue book(s):**_

_**1. Gym Leaders: Their Strengths, Weaknesses, and Everything Else there is to Know about your Journey to the Sinnoh Elite Four - A Comprehensive Field Guide by Nolo Ses Evar**_

_Looking forward to serving you again!_

_-Floaroma Municipal Library_

Steven stared at the letter. He was in so much trouble...

* * *

><p>Alexa woke up, and having realised that she had been sleeping on the floor of her...apartment, got up and dusted herself off. Seeing as it was now nighttime, she decided that she'd turn in for the day.<p>

As she lay in bed, she thought about that dream...

"_Was it really a dream? It seemed so real...that sphere...why was stuff leaking out of it? Was it...the chip?"_

Still mentally exhausted from the events of the day, and not really having much to do, she drifted off into troubled sleep.

* * *

><p>Steven's father was back, and he was back with a vengeance. Steven mentally prepared himself for another grilling, which was exactly what he got, but not for long.<p>

"Steven! How could you do this to me? I'd thought I'd talked some sense into you, and you go behind my back and...I'm disappointe-" He was cut off by a shrill voice, emanating from the stairs.

"Hahahaha! I've finally caught you!" It was Steven's mother, still suffering from one of her 'episodes'. Steven's father's complexion had gone from a beetroot red to that of cold porridge.

"Wh-What?"

"I've caught you! I know what you're doing...always going behind _my_ back...trying to steal _my _son away from me! I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU! _nevernevernevernever..._" The last words caused both Steven and his father to flinch with shock. As she mumbled on, Steven's father was now trying to talk some sense to his wife.

"Look, it-it's just your paranoia...I wouldn't take your son away from you!" That got a reaction.

The wrong one.

"NO! I know what you're doing! ...behind _my _back... NO! NO! I'll get you!" With that, she lunged at her husband, hands going for his neck.

"What? Wh-" Steven's father pushed her hands away. Suddenly, something seemed to snap within him, and he pointed at Steven's mother "wh...You know what? I've had enough of you! And you too!" the finger was now pointed at Steven. "I. Am going. Right._ Now!_" With that, he turned on his heels and slammed the door on his way out. Steven wanted to chase his father, but his mother had already sneaked up on him and was already holding him tight to her.

"I've got you now..."

* * *

><p>Steven, Jenny and Steven's mother weren't the only observers of this scene. Behind Officer Jenny, a small, fairy-like green Pokemon watched, his features tinged with sadness.<p>

"_His fate is sealed. Time for another visit to Stephen." _

With that, he disappeared into the trees in the background to find Palkia.

* * *

><p><em>Back on Earth...<em>

Stephen was almost happy. 'Almost' being the key word in question here. When Celebi had promised to remove his memories, he'd neglected to mention that Celebi hadn't removed the guilt that came associated with those memories, and because of that, he now only remembered what he was guilty for in the Pokemon universe. It wasn't good.

But then again, he could go several days without sinking into a small bout of despair. Generally, he was feeling much better and Shana had been a great influence on his life. That and his mother...Still, occasionally he'd remember what he'd done, and how he'd run away...

"_Stephen?"_

Stephen twirled around. Celebi was back.

"_I know I didn't remove the guilt. That was because I can't. You have to redeem yourself in that world for me to be able to remove that, and I have a chance for you to be able to do it. I just need you to sit through 5 minutes in a lawyer's office, and say 10 words. I think it was 10 words..."_

"Why?" Stephen was thrilled that he would have a chance to fix everything, but he was still slightly apprehensive about Celebi's promise. After all, he had a way with words, and Stephen had learnt the hard way that Celebi wasn't entirely trustworthy.

"_This time, there are no tricks. I need to send you forwards in time, about 8 months into the Pokemon universe. 5 minutes, and you are free from us forever."_

"Fine" As Stephen said this, Celebi smiled, and her eyes began to grow bigger, consuming him completely within them. He fell in...

Falling...

* * *

><p>When the male had left the corridor, Pluto quickly checked around for any other strangers before entering the room herself.<p>

She was prepared anything. For the smallest sparkles of glass still embedded in the carpet, for the messy living room, but immaculately kept bedroom, and also for the large computer termi-

"_Huh?"_

Computer terminals? She quickly stole up to them, and nudged the mouse. The screen came up, asking for a password. Realising that she wouldn't have the tools or the time to crack it, she diverted her attention elsewhere. The video screen caught her attention. On it, an extremely pale girl with brown hair was sleeping. Underneath the screen with the girl lay some hastily scribbled notes. Relieved that the notes couldn't be password protected (how would that be done anyway?) she picked them and started to read.

_-Subject download has been commenced_

_-No evidence of deterioration insofar to be noticeable with tools we have at the moment._

_-Recipient of information still sedated_

Seeing that they didn't hold much of worth, she carefully replaced them before going into the bedroom and looking around there. She didn't find anything of interest until she got to the wardrobe. In it, she found 1 set of matching white shirt and trousers, a large red 'R' emblazoned on the shirt. She frowned

"_Team Rocket?"_

Saturn would have to be told.

* * *

><p>Steven was currently in a very awkward situation. His mother ran at him and hugged him.<p>

"I won't let the government take you away from me...you're mine..."

Steven fidgeted within her surprisingly strong grasp. "Please mom, didn't you see what happened to dad? Wake up!"

That seemed to be enough. She let go of his arms and turned pale. "Oh no...not again..."

"...again?"

* * *

><p><em>The last time his father had stormed out of the house, Steven was nearing his 9th birthday. His father had come back early the next morning drunk, and staggered to the sofa. Hearing the noise, his mother ran to his father, and they hugged...<em>

"_...never again."_

"_No...never again..."_

_But Steven knew then, as he knew now..._

_Nobody was that perfect._

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Saturn spoke into his phone, slightly irritated at a call during the evening. The evening was for him to spend, not to mess around. However, only his commanders and a few other people had his number, and it generally meant that they had important information to expend.<p>

"It's Pluto. I've been tracking Lucas, who seems to be searching for several coloured rectangular pieces of metal. How-" Saturn cut her off.

"Is this what you call me for? You know to wait until office hours!" He was about to hang up when Pluto's voice rang through again, sounding pretty desperate.

"Wait! There's something else! There are Team Rocket Operatives in Jubilife City! I heard them as I was moving up to my room in Jubilife hotel, and they were talking about some way to swap minds, or something like that..." Pluto's voice petered off.

"Team Rocket? They're not usually in Sinnoh. I'll get our hackers on it, see what we can find in their databases."

"Ok, sir."

"And Pluto?"

"Yes? Sir?"

"Don't call me at this time again." Saturn hung up, leaving Pluto to stare at her phone as if it had turned into a piece of rotten fish.

* * *

><p>Steven had gone to bed after the fiasco with his parents, not wanting to face his father when he came back from the pub...<p>

* * *

><p>Alexa woke up to her radio alarm, feeling refreshed, but slightly different, as if she had forgotten something. Shrugging the feeling off as sleepiness, she lay in bed, listening to the news on the radio as she waited for her breakfast to be delivered.<p>

"_...10 to 17 degrees today in Canalave. That's the weather, and I believe we have some breaking news..._

_Yes, we do. The mayor of Floaroma Town is about to make a statement on the latest issues regarding their police force. This was raised when a bar fight started late last night. We know of at least 2 fatalities, and 3 more injuries were sustained before police broke up the fight. One woman and two men are in a stable condition. The cause of the fight is rumored to..._

_..._

_..._

_..."_

Yawning, Alexa changed the channel to one that actually put on music, waiting for the clicking sound from the 'kitchen' (was it a kitchen if you didn't prepare food in it?) that signalled the arrival of her food.

What was she to do today?

* * *

><p>Thump. Thump. Thump.<p>

Steven stirred in bed, but didn't really want to get out. He was still sleepy, and it was too early in the morning for school anyway. Luckily, he heard his mother head downstairs to open the door for his father.

He heard their voices conversing, and it was then he realised that his mother was talking to another female. He heard a sharp intake of breath, followed by a word.

"NO!"

He bolted upright, and ran, as fast as he could, down the stairs. At the doorway, his mother stood weeping into Officer Jenny's arms. Officer Jenny looked up, her face a mask of misery, and said.

"I'm so sorry. So very very sorry..."

And Steven's world came crashing down around him.

* * *

><p><em>In Hearthome city...<em>

Stephen found himself outside a door. Assuming that he was to step in, he did so, and walked into a sombre room. There was an ornate wooden desk at the opposite end of the room, at which sat what Stephen assumed to be a lawyer. In front of the desk sat three chairs. Two were already filled.

"Ah Steven. Good. Now we may commence the reading of the will. Are the witnesses ready?"

There was a chorus of two 'yes' replies from the chairs. Stephen began to experience a chill throught his body. _"A will?"_

"Now, as per the request of your mother, Julia Borell, maiden name Ketcha, she has bequeathed all her possessions to you, as your father is already deceased." Stephen paled _"What kind of screwed up future is this?"_ "We now need you, as per the law, with any object, deed or sum of money handed down by will valued at more than half a million dollars, to chose how you would divide your wealth upon your death, or mental incapability to make this decision.

"_Say,..." _Celebi's voice echoed in his head, and he did what Celebi asked him to do.

"Upon my death, I hereby give all my possessions to Aron Silpha." (_**I bet you counted the words!**_)

"Thank you. You may now leave after giving us your signature." Stephen signed the proffered piece of paper, and left the office.

Outside the office, Celebi was waiting, and after teleporting him back to his universe and time, said, "You have questions? To answer them, your father is dead, and had been for about 8 months, but your mother is still alive, but deemed too mentally unstable to make a rational decision. You have just made Aron's life a lot easier. And I know I told you to say 12 words, I didn't count properly...shuddap!" With that, he glowed green, and Stephen found his guilt over what he had done to that poor boy gone. He was whole again.

"_Farewell. This will be the last time you see me or any of our kind again. You will forget this meeting once I've left."_

After he disappeared, Stephen blinked. He'd been feeling better than he had for ages, and he didn't know why. He couldn't even remember why he was feeling bad about something. He shrugged and walked out of his bedroom.

* * *

><p><em>Palkia turned to Celebi. "How come I do all the dimension transport, and I don't get to talk to him? I would have thought that I could have had a word with him, at least."<em>

_Celebi smirked "About what? Anyway, you could have. I don't know why _you_ chose to keep yourself hidden."_

_Palkia's eyes opened wide, and shoulder gems begun to glow brightly. "You tricked me! You said- You said...You didn't say anything, did you? I tricked myself...argh, I'm an idiot."_

_Celebi hugged Palkia "No you're not! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, even me!"_

_Palkia's face turned dark. "Well, lets hope that what you planning with Steven is not one of those times, then. Or else..." She flexed her gauntlet-like arms..."I might not be able to do much, but the other legendaries might be able to..."_

* * *

><p>As Alexa drifted off that night, she had another dream. However, this dream felt different, more <em>real...<em>

_She was standing in the middle of a lush, green field... all alone. She looked at herself, and saw nothing but a few balls of light where she stood..._

* * *

><p><strong>If any of you thought that Pluto was going to guess random passwords, I considered it, but decided that it was still pretty improbable that a scientist would have a stupid password like 'abc123', '123456789' or my personal favourite, 'letmein'. If anyone of you have these or similar combinations as passwords...shame on you...go change them before you get hacked!<strong>

**A small thing I'd like to point out, but moves like Echoed Voice and Fury Swipes work like Rollout in this world. That is, they lose their power if interrupted, as well if another move is used. Kudos to Cyberfire22 to picking that up by the way.**

**Stephen's happy though, and that was the last role in this fic that Stephen will play. Ever. OK?**

**EDIT: Thanks to cyberfire22, I've fixed Saturn's sudden gender change. I have to keep reminding myself that Saturn is a MALE... and to Tsaukpaetra for pointing out an accidental character name change in this chapter...**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: So my other self gets the good ending...you suck, you know that?<strong>

**Alexa: Stop whining, at least you haven't been trapped in a 5 star hotel room...**

**Steven: You think YOU have it hard? You get unlimited TV and games? What's so bad about that?**

**Alexa: *sigh***

**Steven: Was it something I said?**


	7. Fast Forward

**Disclaimer: I have as much chance of owning Pokemon as the Party! Party! Party! have of winning the next election. (There actually was a Party! Party! Party! political party in 1989. They got 979 votes in the state they ran in.)**

* * *

><p>Two days after Steven's father's death, his mother sat him down. This looked bad.<p>

"Son, I need to tell you that I cannot look after you anymore. My... condition has been getting steadily worse, and I have to move to a facility that can give me the best care I can get there. It no longer is safe for me to be around you. I'm so sorry...so very very sorry..."

"_Strange...those were the words Officer Jenny had said"_

They came for her the next day. Steven had never felt so alone.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Report on Subject 23: Transfer of human consciousness into that of a Pokemon's<strong>_

_2 months after commencement:_

_ Subject has begun to visibly show signs of deterioration, although small. As previously noted, she has set up a daily routine to be followed. After careful analysis of the routine, we compared the first time she was observed following one (day 15) with the results of the most recent day. Several deviations from her original daily routine have been noted._

_1. She has stopped using several pieces of gym equipment. The only pieces of gym equipment she now uses are the simpler ones, like the treadmill or the exercise bike. Several of the combination weightlifting machines have not been used since day 22._

_2. Her meals are no longer consumed within the kitchen area. Instead, they are consumed at random around the apartment._

_Hypotheses that can be drawn from this observed behaviour indicate that said subject is beginning to show signs of mental decline. Further observation has also shown that she is unaware of said decline._

_-Sonya Tanem_

* * *

><p>Steven had spent the past three months at the orphanage. Well, actually, Steven had spent the past two months in Aron's house, Aron kindly letting him stay in his house. Aron's house was a lot better furnished than Steven's house, and they could eat out everyday, but because of that, Steven had to become careful to watch his diet.<p>

Still, Aron was a great companion, and Steven learnt a lot about Pokemon training and breeding while with the 10 year old. Isrea occasionally came over, and it turned out that she was contemplating becoming a trainer when she reached 11 years of age.

At school, people had mostly forgiven him for the 'incident' that happened with Jerry. Jerry was, surprisingly one of the first students to approach him (apart from Isrea and Aron), which prompted most of Steven's school to abandon what leftover irrational fear they held of the boy.

All in all, life had finally started looking up...

* * *

><p>4 months since his last lengthy visit to a city, which was Jubilife City, Lucas had found 2 more plates, one at Amity Square (he hadn't bothered to stop at Hearthome city, and he spent nearly a whole day messing around with the teleporters before getting to the spot where he found the dark purplish plate) and near acuity lakefront.<p>

He had gotten lucky then, seeing as this was the last lead he had on the location of the final 5 plates he had to find, and, strangely enough this was the first time he actually found someone who already possessed a plate. Luckily for him, the hiker in possession of the pale blue plate had not only willingly given it to him, but hinted that there might be another two...one near Sunnyshore City, and the other inside Iron Island.

* * *

><p>By now, Pluto had stopped following Lucas, and one of the Captains at Team Galactic had been assigned to him instead.<p>

Pluto? Pluto had been given another job...one that better suited her _talents_.

* * *

><p>4 months or so after her incarceration...Alexa was bored...as usual. Moping around her apartment, she tried to decide what to do. Her eyes completely ignored the gym door, and she never went there any more, or thought about exercise in general. As a result, her well-defined body had begun to lose some of its muscle mass, and she started looking more like a well-fed 11 year old girl, instead of a top-class athlete.<p>

She'd started a diary of sorts...where she wrote whatever she wanted...diary entries, short stories, drawings of random thoughts that settled in her mind.

At the end of the day...she settled down in bed...

_to dream..._

* * *

><p><em>Alexa found herself in that never-ending field again...as she had every day for the past 4 months or so. Every time she found herself in the desert, she decided to walk...seeing as there wasn't much else to do. She never got anywhere before her dream ended, but she did notice that there were more and more orbs every time she had her dream. <em>

_This time...this time was different. As she plodded on through the endless fields of grass and wild flowers, she saw something on the horizon...a the very edge of her vision..._

Alexa woke up.

* * *

><p>5 months after being set to track Lucas, Pluto found herself outside Team Rocket's main headquarters in Celedon City. She walked to the receptionist's desk.<p>

"How may I help you? Are you here for a Coin Case? With one, you can-"

"I wish to join Team Rocket."

"-use it to play many fun games like Voltorb Filp, Slot Machines or Card Flip! Please enter through the second door on the left." As she said this, Pluto noted that she reached under the desk for something. Deciding to play along with this facade for a little longer, she walked briskly to the proffered door and opened it.

Inside, there was a very small room. Slightly puzzled, Pluto stepped in.

The room dropped.

* * *

><p>6 months after visiting Jubilife, Lucas had found both of the two plates hinted at, and a third one. He now only had two left to find.<p>

He decided to head to Solaceon Town to check out their ruins, before returning to Jubilife for a short break. He already knew the location of one of the final two plates to be in Mount Coronet, but seeing as he was heading there anyway, he wanted to find the other plate first.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Report on Subject 23: Transfer of human consciousness into that of a Pokemon's<strong>_

_7 months after commencement:_

_Mental deterioration has begun to increase at an exponential rate. Nearing the halfway point of our predicted time frame, our subject has begun to show greater signs of mental decline._

_1. Her adherence to a schedule every day is no longer stringent. She still performs the same tasks daily, but for irregular lengths of time. This indicates that she no longer has any concept of time._

_2. She has stopped changing her clothes to get into bed, or getting out of bed. She seems to change only after 2 days or so..._

_3. Observation of her writing has shown word lengths to have decreased to an average of about 6 words to a previous average of 8.4 words. Frequent use of the same word is now more widespread and synonyms are barely used._

_Based on these predictions, the predicted time frame for this download can possibly be reduced by 3 months, due to the exponential rate of mental decline._

Giovanni sat up. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. This project finally had something good to show for himself.

This was good.

* * *

><p>8 months on from the night Steven lost his parents, Steven returned home from school with Aron. A quick check of the letterbox showed that Steven had received a letter from some faraway law firm. He decided to read it with Aron.<p>

_To Messrs. Borell and Slipha, _(Steven started, he didn't know Aron was so closely related with Silph Co.)

_It is with great displeasure that we inform you of your mother's state of health. She has just recently been declared unfit to testament, and as she is no longer of 'sound mind', we regret that as per Sinnoh law, we must have you travel to Hearthome City for the reading of your mother's will, and to delegate how your possessions will be passed on, if any unfortunate circumstances lead to your death or mental incapability to draft a will should happen soon, as the total sum of your mother's possessions amount to more than 500,000 dollars._

_Please find enclosed your bank details inside this envelope. This sum of money has been taken out of your mother's funds to pay for travel and lodgings. Money has been deposited to the sum of ten thousand dollars ONLY. (__**Funny how when writing a cheque the last word is always 'ONLY' and capitalised...**__)_

_The reading of your will is in 1 month. We recommend you arrive early to avoid any incidents of an unsavoury nature that may arise._

_Please reply with estimated time of arrival._

_Yours truly,_

_Messrs. Axel and Co._

_46 Regent Street, Hearthome City,_

_Sinnoh_

Steven looked up at Aron.

"I'm going. I don't really know anyone here, so I'll probably just give everything to you while I try and figure out how I actually want to divide my mum's stuff. Don't worry, it's only temporary. I'll probably go to Jubilife and tag along with a trainer across Mount Coronet...I can probably make my own way from there. "

_Celebi watched the scene with sadness..._

"_If only you knew...If only..."_

* * *

><p>Lucas was (<strong>lolwut? apparently 'was' isn't a word...it is now though...Google Spellcheck does epically fail sometimes...<strong>) ecstatic. He hadn't really expected to find the second last plate in the Solaceon Ruins, but had decided to check it out anyway...and he'd struck gold.

He called out his Staraptor, preparing to fly to Jubilife for a short week long break, before heading to Mount Coronet. He knew that at this time of year few trainers went to Mount Coronet, as during winter, Mount Coronet was just that little bit harder to brave and no one liked travelling through Mount Coronet anyway

* * *

><p>Alexa had been locked up in this apartment forever. All she did these days was watch TV and play some of the easier games, occasionally scribbling down a short note or two in her 'diary'. These days she mostly just doodled in it. She heard her dinner arrive...it could wait.<p>

That night, she dreamt of the field again.

* * *

><p><em>That field...recently, she could see a vague out line of herself when she tried to look at her body. Her walks had bought her closer and closer to the object on the horizon, and yesterday she remembered that she had gotten close enough to see that it was a forest. It seemed that with every passing day, as more of herself appeared in the dream, she could move further and further.<em>

_She couldn't wait to get to the forest._

_Whilst Alexa was in the forest... she didn't look within herself...if she had, she would have seen the same sphere, dancing with multicoloured lights..._

_And within that sphere, lightning leaped from the outer shell to the core..._

_And in the centre of the sphere...the core..._

_**The core...**_

_The core was nearly empty._

* * *

><p>Steven was having a hard time finding a trainer that wanted to cross Mount Coronet. No one really wanted to cross during the middle of winter, which Steven hadn't realised as Floaroma was constantly warm and temperate, which probably supported the theories that Shaymin had a hand in the creation of Floaroma city...<p>

However, Jubilife city was definitely colder now then it had been, and Steven had been forced to use some of his money to buy some warmer clothes. Recently, he'd been hanging around the Pokemon Center to see if any trainer wanted to cross Mount Coronet.

Travel with a trainer wasn't uncommon. Many children or elderly people, for one reason or another would have to travel on their own through unsafe territory. As a result, some had begun asking trainers to help them through such regions, paying reasonable sums of money for the added protection. Steven had already met some other people who were trying to get to other places, mostly to Snowpoint city.

Today was his fifth day in trying to find a trainer to travel with, but Steven was hit with an idea. Instead of waiting at the Pokemon Center, he would wait at the Landing Bay. After all, he assumed, any trainer still flying in this weather had to be experienced and have experienced Pokemon, and it was these that generally helped out prospective travellers the most.

However, he was still unsuccessful before he saw someone he vaguely recognised. It was that blond trainer that dropped that yellow thingy...

"Hey!" Steven called out.

* * *

><p>Lucas' first reaction was to check the ground. He'd thought that he'd dropped another plate...again. However, he realised that his backpack was still fully zipped up, and there wern't any plates on the floor, so he looked for the source of the voice.<p>

He saw a child, about 10 or 11, some walking towards him. He was about to mumble something about autographs before he remembered his blond dyed hair and the new blue-eyed contacts that he had bought from Hearthome city. The boy, who was fairly tall for his age and had sandy-brown hair spoke first.

"Hi, I'm Steven...err...I need to get to Hearthome city, but for that I have to go through Mount Coronet, which I can't do on my own. Are you going through Mount Coronet?" Steven moved aside for another trainer who had landed, this time on a Murkrow.

Lucas pondered the unspoken question. He had planned to go to Mount Coronet...more specifically the Hall of Origin, but where had he planned to go next? He decided that it couldn't hurt for him to take the boy with him, and was only a short detour from Mount Coronet to Hearthome city anyway. He hadn't admitted it to himself, but Lucas was getting a little tired of the long periods he spent alone.

"Ok, I know what you're going to ask, and yes. My name is...Pike, and I was originally only going to Mount Coronet, but I guess it doesn't matter if I drop you off at Hearthome City. I'm afraid that the weather is too bad at the moment to fly over Mount Coronet, so even if I hadn't wanted to stop at Mount Coronet, we still would have had to go through. However, I have some...busineess to attend to at Mount Coronet, so the journey might take a week or two at the worst. We can fly there in three days, after I've taken a break and restocked my supplies. I don't want any money for this. I have enough as it is anyway." Lucas finished, anticipating both of Steven's upcoming questions. Waving goodbye, Lucas walked off.

"I'll meet you at the Pokemon Center in three days. 8 o'clock in the morning! Bye!"

* * *

><p>Steven was relieved that he had found a trainer to get him to Hearthome city, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that that Pike was hiding something from him.<p>

Still, beggars couldn't be choosers.

* * *

><p>Rynade was the new captain who was given the task of following Lucas. Having overhead the conversation that Lucas had had with the boy and recalling his Murkrow, he proceeded to call Phobos, the person he was to report to.<p>

"Hello?"

"Sir, it's Captain Rynade. I've received information of the whereabouts of Lucas' final destination."

"Oh? Where?"

"It's somewhere in Mount Coronet, and they'll be there in one to two weeks."

"Mount Coronet? That must mean the hall of-...good work Ryanade, keep following Lucas. We'll set up some traps in the Hall of-...in Mount Coronet." Rynade groaned. Not only was he still following that trainer around, but no one could seem to get his name right.

"Sir? It's Rynade, not Ryanade."

"Whatever. Just follow Lucas. This is only going to be necessary for another week or two. Goodbye." The voice on the end hung up.

* * *

><p>Saturn looked up at Phobos, who had just entered the room. "Yes?"<p>

"Sir, Captain Rynade has just informed me that Lucas' final destination is in Mount Coronet. I think we both know where he is going." Saturn cocked up his eyebrow

"Indeed? Well, set up the lightning traps in the Hall of Origin then. Phobos, tell Mercury to travel with the team to the Hall of Origin. He can use the master ball to catch Mew, or whatever that Pokemon is."

* * *

><p>Three days later, Steven was waiting outside the Pokemon Center at 7 o'clock, not wanting to be late. Surprisingly, when he decided to check inside, he found Pike already there, waiting for him. He chuckled.<p>

"Well, seeing that we've both decided to come early, how about we leave now? I have another Pokemon that can fly, so I don't need to withdraw a Pokemon..."

They walked to the landing bay, while Pike explained flying to Steven. "Sometimes, Flying is pretty simple. On a Pokemon like Dragonite or Charizard, you sit on their back and they...fly. However, with Pokemon like Staraptor or smaller Skarmory, you actually have to increase the size of your Pokemon. You can teach most flying Pokemon to do this, but remember that while they are 'inflated' they cannot attack or do any special moves like Roost or Endure. Some flying Pokemon that cannot enlarge just grab you with their claws and carry you that way. It...isn't fun..." Pike winced inwardly at that memory. "Let's just say a harness and a seat becomes really useful in those cases."

Pike released his Staraptor and Skarmory, and asked them to carry him and Steven to the foot of Mount Coronet. Staraptor became engulfed in a white light, and grew up to three times larger, whilst Skarmory just stared at Steven for a while, and did nothing. Steven did the same, not sure what he was meant to do

"She just thinks she can carry you without 'inflating', just climb on her back, and hold on tight!" With that, both of Pike's Pokemon took off, with their respective passengers on their backs.

* * *

><p>Captain Voken watched as the new recruit, Nix, loaded the stolen Pokeballs into the box he had given her. Captain Voken felt an emotion that he didn't usually feel.<p>

He was impressed.

This woman, with short-cut hair and a curt attitude, easily completed any mission he gave her to do. This being one of them.

"Hmph. Keep up the good work, and you'll definitely get promoted."

Nix nodded, and, now seeing as her job was done, walked out of the base.

* * *

><p>Once out of the Team Rocket base, Pluto allowed herself a small smile. This was too easy. They hadn't even bothered with background checks on her past, and all she had to do was catch Pokemon? Team Rocket hardly stole Pokemon, as catching was much easier. She sighed. If Saturn had known that this would have been so easy, he would have sent someone else.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Palkia watched as a Skarmory and Staraptor touched down at the base of Mount Coronet. She turned to Celebi.<em>

"_You sure? Once this day is over, there isn't really any way to go back...you're fully sure your plan will work?"_

_Celebi stared on, and for once his baby blue eyes looked as though he was trying to hold back tears._

"_Yes...if there was another way, I would have taken it, but..." His voice trailed off. He started again._

"_If...but 'if' is such a powerful word, especially for someone like me. Only I truly understand the meaning of the word 'if'..."_

_Palkia stood next to the green fairy Pokemon, not sure about what she should do._

_Underneath them, two humans settled down to sleep..._

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I'm sorry I had to condense 8 months or so into one chapter...but it was necessary, so I did.<strong>

**By the way, Nix is one of the smaller moons orbiting Pluto, which was why I gave her that name. Charon was kinda taken.**

**The recent chapters have all been rather dour, but the general tone of the fic should pick up after 2 to 3 more chapters.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Uh oh... I don't like the sound of this chapter...<strong>

**Alexa: I already knew this chapter would suck for me before it started...so meh.**

**Steven: Still...unlimited TV and games...**

**Alexa: You. Are. THE biggest numbnut I know! Seriously?**

**Steven: Err...yeah?**


	8. Judgement

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. However, if you see one, I wouldn't mind having it, as long as it isn't Zubat.**

**Before I start, you all should know that in this fic the Azure Flute exists, but the Hall of Origin is freely accessible to anyone who wishes to enter it. Summoning Arceus is another matter altogether...**

* * *

><p>Steven slept. His flight on Pike's Skarmory had been nothing short of amazing. While he had been in the air, he had almost felt at one with the steel bird beneath him. He had never liked airplanes back in his world, as he thought that a metal tube should never be found 20,000 metres above sea level, and if it was found there, it shouldn't be there for long. He'd always hated flying until his flight on Pike's Skarmory.<p>

But this...this was different. He wasn't inside a pipe, watching the clouds roll under the impossibly floating tube he was sitting in.

No.

He was with them. He was among the clouds, and with them. He wasn't insulated from nature, like he had been whilst in airplanes, but he was at one with it. He resolved that one of his first priorities when he became a trainer was to catch a bird Pokemon.

* * *

><p>Aron didn't sleep. He was currently staring with puzzlement at the egg he had just gotten in the mail. It had come from his Pokemon breeding relatives from Hoenn. With it was enclosed a note.<p>

_Here is an egg we managed to breed. This egg has had very special parents. We thought to give you a present to take with you. We hope you'll take care of it on your journey._

_Love, _

_Your Aunt and Uncle._

* * *

><p>Lucas slept. His flight on Staraptor had frozen his hands off. He'd forgotten to wear gloves (again...) and that boy...Steven... had thought to bring mittens...and earmuffs! That was a bloody good idea, and one that he would be using.<p>

However, he was also slightly nervous. He thought about the flute that he had been given by that mysterious man. If the legends were right, the Pokemon he would be meeting would be the greatest one of all...

* * *

><p>Rynade slept. And snored.<p>

Loudly.

* * *

><p>Alexa slept. She had the dream again.<p>

_In the field again..._

_Alexa started moving (she'd decided that she wasn't walking, as she didn't have legs...yet) towards where she knew the forest would be. As she approached the forest and it came into her view, she thought she saw flash of colour._

_It was orange._

_She wanted to get close...closer..._

_Closer..._

_But it was gone...disappeared into the depths of the trees that beheld her. She wanted badly to get to the forest._

_**Badly.**_

* * *

><p>Kova slept. For now.<p>

* * *

><p>Sonya slept, but was woken by an alarm coming from her computer terminal. A quick review of the video feed showed that Alexa was still sleeping peacefully in bed. Waking Kova, she quickly moved on to the subject's vitals.<p>

"Kova! Stop being lazy and help me figure out what caused this alarm!"

* * *

><p>Kova, for obvious reasons, was no longer sleeping. As he groggily got up, clutching his head, he staggered over to one of the other computer terminals and opened up the screen dialogue. He asked Sonya.<p>

"Oi! Doesn't the alarm tell us why it's sounding?" Sonya looked shocked. Kova had said something smart, and something that she hadn't thought of.

"Yeah...get over it...it says something about overload..." He was quickly shoved aside by Sonya, who stared at the screen in fear.

* * *

><p>Sonya stared at the screen in fear.<p>

"Oh god..."

"What? What does this mean?" Kova asked, puzzled as to Sonya's sudden mood shift.

"It means that for some reason, download speed has dramatically increased to the point where the chip is having trouble handling it. We just have to hope the chip holds out. If not..."

"If not?"

"Then we'll end up with a Charmander with a liking for exposition and exercise, among other things. However, Basic humanitarian traits are one of the last things to be transferred. The subject...will be irrevocably mentally damaged from the process, and will basically be a human with no memory of her past life, except for a few major sweeping events."

* * *

><p><em>Yes...<em>

_For once, she had actually managed to stay inside her dream. She had approached the forest, and was struck by how much it reminded herself of home..._

_Home..._

_A huge amount of memories flitted past her mind, but she didn't notice. She only wanted to find the orange thing._

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the chip in Alexa's head was in overdrive. It had just been given a huge set of information to download, namely that of the past 10 years of her life.<p>

* * *

><p>"Up!" Steven groaned. He wasn't used to waking up early for two days in a row. Shielding his eyes against the light, he squinted at the person responsible for his awakening.<p>

Pike stared at him, grinning. "Look, I've got stuff to do, and you do want to get to Hearthome, don't you?"

By now, Steven had gotten to his feet, if a little unsteadily. Helping Pike pack away the sleeping gear and tarp they used for cover, he noticed that Pike already had breakfast cooked.

"_Jesus...how early did he get up?"_

They ate breakfast before leaving the campsite, Pike having left out his Skarmory for any wild Pokemon that might approach, although he had several Max Repels with him.

After spraying each other with some of the Max Repel, Lucas started the long trek through Mount Coronet. Although all the Pokemon stayed well away from them due to the Max Repel on the first floor, on the second floor they met their first challenger.

It was a Meditite. They actually stumbled over it as it was meditating, and as it quickly jumped up to begin battling, Lucas inclined his head slightly and Skarmory dashed past him and Steven, slamming into the Meditite with a Wing attack before finishing it off with a steel wing to the head. The group walked past the Meditite, now comatose, and Steven couldn't help gazing at Lucas' Skarmory in wonder. Lucas smirked.

"_Better her than me...I hate the attention."_

* * *

><p>Steven was pretty sure that they were on the fourth floor of Mount Coronet. It was here that Pike got down and called out his Empoleon. After gesturing for Steven to get on and recalling Skarmory, Pike also got on Empoleon's back (Empoleon had also 'inflated', also possessing that ability.)<p>

After swimming for a little, Empoleon reached a waterfall. It then started to glow blue, and whilst Steven was wondering what was about to happen, an invisible barrier appeared around them and Empoleon...shot up the waterfall. By the time they had reached the top, Steven wasn't doing so well.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you alright?" Lucas bent down over Steven, who was now hugging Empoleon's back as tightly as possible.<p>

"..."

"Look, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that we were going to use Waterfall...I guess that was pretty stupid of me...ahh...we're here!" Lucas got off Empoleon and stepped onto land, Steven quickly following behind him.

"I'm..._never ever _doing that _ever_ again!" Steven shuddered.

Lucas chuckled. He'd felt the same way the first time his Empoleon had used Waterfall. Empoleon seemed to be enjoying a joke as well. He walked up to Steven and slapped him on the back.

"Pole. Leon?" he queried, tilting his head slightly. Steven stared at Empoleon, not knowing what he'd said. Lucas, however seemed to have a pretty good idea.

"Look, if you really don't want to do that again...then by all means, I'll adhere to your wishes! I'll never take you up a Waterfall again without your consent." Empoleon started laughing at this. Steven realised that he'd missed something, but Lucas said nothing more and walked into the small cave.

* * *

><p>Mercury surveyed the Hall of Origin. The hundreds of inscriptions carved into the four pillars that stood in the middle of the hall held no interest for him. He only wanted one thing, and refused to be sidetracked. He walked over to one of the grunts, startling him into dropping the piece of roping harness he held.<p>

"How is the trap going?"

"Sir...I-err... The Master ball, which I assume you have, is how we plan to capture whatever Pokemon appears here, but we've decided to set up some ice and electricity cannons to immobilise whatever Pokemon does appear, to give you a better shot... Is that good enough?"

"Hmph. It'll have to do."

* * *

><p><em>Home...No! I will find it...that...thing...<em>

_Alexa dashed (somewhere along that time, she had gotten legs) into the forest, looking left and right, all the while calling out._

"_Who are you?"_

_As she stopped, wondering how to better continue her search when she came across it...no... when she came across her._

_They stared at each other..._

* * *

><p>As Steven entered the cave with Pike, he saw that inside the cave sat three objects. In the middle was one of the rectangular plate-like objects like the one Pike had dropped all that time ago...and on either side were two orbs. Pike walked in and picked all three up.<p>

Steven made up his mind. He wanted to know what Pike was doing.

"What are those metal rectangles for? What are those orbs?"

* * *

><p>Lucas sighed. He had known that Steven would ask questions, but was hoping that they wouldn't come until after...<p>

"_Now... to tell the truth?"_

"Ok. These plates? They are used to summon an ancient Pokemon, whom I am intending to give these orbs to. See, these orbs belong to two very powerful Pokemon, but they lost them a long while ago and couldn't find them. I found them several years ago, and have spent the rest of my time searching for a way to summon either of the two Pokemon, but after what happened at Mount Coronet those years ago...they can't be summoned. I need all the plates and this flute to summon this ancient Pokemon." Lucas pulled out a bright blue flute, which was slightly glowing.

"Oh, and by the way, you can stop calling me Pike. My name's Lucas." He walked off, out of the cave and rejoined Empoleon who was still waiting outside.

Steven was dumbfounded. All this time and he'd been traveling with Lucas? The Lucas? That explained his powerful Pokemon. However, he decided not to pester him further, as he kind of understood why Lucas had gone to such great lengths to protect his identity.

As he walked out, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown onto Empoleon's back. Before he had the chance to scream, that barrier formed again, and Steven was sent plunging towards the waterfall. You'd think, now being the second time, that Steven would have gotten used to it.

But this time, one thing was slightly different.

They were going _down_ the waterfall. And gravity says that things go down faster. Much faster. Steven now had a chance to scream

"!"

* * *

><p>Now outside the caves of Coronet, Lucas rubbed his ears, still sore from the pounding they had taken from Steven's screaming. Steven refused to talk to him after the incident. He tried to reason with him.<p>

"Look, I only said I would never take you up a waterfall ever again without your consent! I never said anything about going _down_ one! Anyway, you would have rather stayed up there for the rest of your life?"

Steven, still slightly miffed, shrugged and walked on. "That was still a dodgy thing to do!"

"Meh, don't lie, you enjoyed it!"

"Are you crazy? That was like getting my tongue torn out!"

"Only because you were so loud!"

"Grr...Sinnoh Champion or not...I'M COMING FOR YOU!"

* * *

><p>1 hour later, Steven and Lucas had reached the entrance to Spear Pillar. Both were knackered from having run all the way there, Lucas having been chased by a psychotic Steven until begging for a truce.<p>

As they walked into Spear Pillar, Steven couldn't stop himself from letting out a gasp.

"Woow...it's huuuge..." The entire place was brightly illuminated by sunlight, and furnished out in polished white marble. Steven gawked, following Lucas towards the end, where another staircase lay.

As they approached the staircase, Lucas decided to tease Steven again. "Hey, that seems like a big staircase...you wanna use Waterfall again?"

"..."

They went up. Slowly.

* * *

><p>"<em>Who are you?"<em>

* * *

><p>Behind Steven and Lucas, a group of about 10 Team Rocket grunts approached the staircase, but didn't go up. Mercury went up halfway, and positioned himself so he could hear what was going on.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Me? I'm..."<em>

* * *

><p>Entering the Hall of Origin, also paved with white marble, Steven and Lucas walked up to the central dais together. Lucas put his backpack on the ground, and gave all his Pokeballs to Steven.<p>

"Wait by the staircase. I don't know how dangerous this Pokemon can be. If I...di-...if something happens to me, then use my Pokemon to get to Hearthome. They know enough to get you out of Mount Coronet. Whatever, don't leave the foot of the staircase.

As Steven waited by the staircase, Lucas took out all the plates, and placed them on the dais. Arranging them in some grid order, he then took out the flute and blew on it. Instead of some scraggly notes emerging, a single pure note came out, reverberating around the hall.

On the dais, in front of Lucas, a yellow glow started forming.

* * *

><p>Mercury shivered.<p>

"_That sound...that echo..."_

That sound had touched something within them, and they were now even more nervous about the Pokemon they were about to attempt the capture of.

* * *

><p>The yellow glow grew brighter and larger, totally engulfing Lucas within its light before blinking out. Rapidly blinking his own eyes, Lucas beheld the Pokemon that now stood before him.<p>

A centaur-like creature, it was mostly white except for its gold-tipped hooves, which had yellow streaks running up his legs, and a dark yellow underbelly. Its body was surrounded in the midriff by a golden ring that constantly glowed a bright yellow, like the sun. Its mane trailed along in the air, seemingly unaffected by gravity. Its eyes were locked with Lucas'.

Lucas' eyes widened. He had never seen this Pokemon before. Even though he knew he would be seeing a new (actually, a very very old) Pokemon, the sight of the Pokemon still awed him.

"Wh-Who are you?"

In his head, with a voice so powerful it seemed to move within his very body, the Pokemon replied.

"_**Me? I am Arceus, god of Creation."**_

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm Firael... who are you?"<em>

_Alexa stared. She hadn't expected the Charmander to answer back, and what was even more unexpected was the fact that she understood her._

"_I'm Alexa. I understand you?"_

* * *

><p>Mercury's eyes widened. <em>"A god?" <em>He turned to the other grunts next to him, who had obviously heard the same thing.

It was time for action.

"Fire the cannons. I'll take the child at the stairs, and once he's subdued, Arceus had better be paralysed or frozen. I'll capture him and then deal with that other trainer."

* * *

><p>"<em>A god?"<em>

Steven stared in wonder at the creature that beheld Lucas. He didn't get much of a look, as he was soon grabbed from behind (_"Not again..."_) and unceremoniously had his arms held in a painful lock. Before his assailant got his or her hand over his mouth, he had enough time to cry out, but neither Lucas nor Arceus heard him. They were too busy looking each other over, when...

"BAM!" The first of the installed cannons fired at Arceus. The rest soon followed. Steven was given to a grunt as the person who had subdued him, a tall, slim male with white hair and only 4 fingers on his left hand bought a purple and white coloured ball out of his pocket. Steven's eyes widened, as the man threw the ball at the now frozen Pokemon.

"_A master ball..."_

* * *

><p>Lucas saw Arceus get frozen by one of the beams, and turned around just in time to see the master ball flying towards Arceus. Diving out, he managed to knock the ball away, and picked up one of the plates he had laid on the ground. He pressed the bright blue plate against the frozen Arceus.<p>

Immediately, Arceus began to glow a bright blue, and was now seemingly unaffected by the ice beams. Lucas then pressed a dark brown plate against Arceus, just before he was hit by some electricity from the nearest cannon. Once again, Arceus didn't seem to be affected, and opened his mouth and shot down all the cannons with an orange beam. He then saw the Team Rocket grunts, and his eyes narrowed. He picked up Lucas with his mouth and threw him behind himself, before speaking.

"_**You DARE try to capture me? You shall suffer for your ignorance! JUSTICE!"**_

With that, he shot a yellow beam into the roof of the hall, which exploded into a shower of pink meteors that rained down upon the Team Rocket Grunts. Most of them were hit by the meteors, getting killed instantly, but the unlucky ones that survived were hit by the explosion's shock wave. They were blasted into the walls of the hall, sliding limply to rest-

"NOOO!" The anguished cry came from behind Arceus, and before he had time to turn around, Lucas ran past him, heading for one of the crumpled figures on the ground. Arceus realised that the figure was a boy, and he wasn't wearing the same clothes as the others. Sensing that he had just made a grave mistake, he galloped over to look at the body lying beneath him.

"_That...He's just a boy...what have I done?"_

* * *

><p>Steven was one of the unlucky ones. He managed to dodge the meteors, but just as he got away from the one that was about to hit him, he was blasted by the shock wave. This wasn't like any shock wave. It seemed to rip right through him, tearing at his insides, and <em>then<em> throwing you back. He was thrown against the wall...unable to move or speak. A small trickle of blood started to flow from his mouth, evidence of the pounding his body had received.

Dimly, he saw a blond trainer running towards him, followed by a galloping creature..._"Arceus..."_

"What have you done? He didn't know anything about you, and these criminals have taken his life away from him! Why did I take you on such a dangerous journey? It's all my fault..." Lucas was on the verge of tears. Steven opened his mouth to try and speak, to say that it wasn't...

"It'ssss...nooo...ot... youreee...f-...f-...fault..." Steven managed to say as he gasped for breath. As he lay there, he suddenly noticed howw cold it had become.

"Soooo...cold..._"_

"_So cold..."_

"_Cold..."_

His vision was beginning to lose colour, and as a dark veil closed over his vision, he heard a voice, and it said words, words that he only knew too well. Too well...

"_**I'm so sorry...so very very sorry."**_

One...more...breath...

Then Steven's world closed in on him, and he fell...

* * *

><p><em>Celebi watched the scene at the Hall of Origin unfold before his and Palkia's eyes. Even though the both of them had known what was about to happen, nothing prepared them for the sight of the pitiful shell that once was a human, on the ground.<em>

_Palkia muttered "This is it...we are so dead..."_

_Celebi was about to start reassuring Palkia when Arceus looked up._

_Straight at them. _

_Both of them blanched. __Palkia muttered again, fear evident on her face. "Ok. Scrap that. Arceus has probably just invented 20 things far worse than death, and he's gonna try them out on us to see if they are."_

_They both disappeared, leaving Arceus with Lucas and the dead body of Steven on the ground._

* * *

><p><strong>To azure blue espeon...don't worry. Remember what I PM'd you? I haven't changed anything.<strong>

**To Cyberfire22 and Crazy Josie..thanks for pointing that out. Erm...that was a truly huge failure by me.**

**To Tsaukpaetra and Ryu Dragonclaw and everyone else I just mentioned...thanks for constantly reviewing! I feel like I've just jumped a major hurdle, and this story's plot has definitely passed a watershed moment.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Ohh...great...I'm deadified...so much for justice.<strong>

**Alexa: HA! I'm finally better off than you now! WIN!**

**Steven: *sighs***

**Alexa:... Was it something I said?**


	9. Dreamtime

**Before I start, I realise that I've been a little inconsistent with my use of italicised focuses. Any conversation between the legendaries, or anything that happens in Limbo, or any dream sequence or thought process is in italics. Occasionally a stressed word will be italicised, but that's just for emphasis. **

* * *

><p><em>Falling...<em>

_Steven seemed to fall downwards through the back of his head, his vision slowly pulling further and further away from him as it dwindled into a speck of light within the darkness of death, as if a dark veil was being pulled over his eyes, shrinking his vision...smaller and smaller._

_As he fell, he remembered one last thing...a ball...pressed into his hands..._

_Still in freefall, Steven stared at the pinprick of light that held all that his eyes still saw...and knew that he wasn't truly dead, not yet. Not until..._

_Not until Steven turned around, to see what was on the other side..._

_**The other side...**_

* * *

><p><em>Celebi and Palkia reappeared, and as the flower-scented air of Floaroma Town blew into Palkia's nostrils, she wondered what Celebi was doing now...<em>

"_What are you doing?" She queried. Celebi looked at her._

"_One last task, before we meet our maker. One last task, and we wait for Arceus in Limbo. There's no sense in running." With that, he flew into a relatively large house._

"_Oh...dreams are such fickle things..." Celebi thought as he entered a room. On the other side of the room lay a bed._

* * *

><p>"It'.,.ssss...nooo...t... youreee...f-...f-...fault..." Lucas could only watch in horror as the boy's life slowly ebbed out of him. He only vaguely noticed Arceus nudging him.<p>

"**Quick. We must leave quickly, and before that we must do something! Capture me with the Master Ball!"**

Lucas was shocked. "Whaa...?"

"**I have seen the consequences of my actions. If you capture me with the Master Ball, release me quickly, and hide the ball, nothing can allow me to be captured again. Quickly!" **Arceus touched a purplish plate, and while glowing purple, levitated the ball towards Lucas. Lucas held the ball, now darkened with soot and ash, before coming to a decision. He pressed the master ball into Steven's hand, and used his finger to press the button used to catch Arceus.

Arceus noted this. "**Interesting...continue...it's the only way I can start paying him back."**

As Arceus disappeared in a flash of red light Lucas heard Steven mumble something.

"So...cold..."

Acting quickly, Lucas then released Arceus again. A moment later, he saw Steven give one last ragged breath, and his body stopped moving. The two of them stood there, Pokemon and Trainer.

Mourning.

* * *

><p>Rynade was feeling like a dolt. He had managed to lose Lucas and his companion after they went up the waterfall. He had wasted about 2 hours trying to find a way up the waterfall, and as he reached the top, he saw a large jet of water stream past his position on the cliff face arc over the waterfall into the depths below. Strangely, it was accompanied by an extremely loud scream. Rynade wasn't the brightest of men, and as such went to cover his ears with both hands.<p>

While three quarters of the way up a cliff.

Rynade was about to learn the same lesson that Steven was also learning.

Gravity says things go down faster. Much faster.

* * *

><p>Aron was having an uneventful night. 'Was' being the key word in that sentence. As he fell asleep, he began to dream.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Ok, so I'm Alexa and you're Firael. How come we can see and hear each other, and how come I can understand you?" Alexa asked the Charmander in front of her.<em>

_By now, Alexa and Firael were both sitting down. Firael mused. "Hmm...I know that they were doing some experiment with me, what about you?"_

_Alexa started. "That's it! They put some sort of chip in my head, and...I dunno what it's for..." I'll try to find out...can you try too?" Firael suddenly looked melancholy. _

"_I haven't told you, but my last memory was of me being strapped into a bed and being knocked out. I've been here for over 8 months on end, with only my own imagination to talk to. He's really quite funny, but he isn't always here...and it gets lonely. Eight months in isolation..."_

_Alexa was astounded at the cruel treatment that Firael had suffered at the hands of Team Galactic. She hugged the orange lizard tightly, feeling her scales heat up her skin. Feeling that she was about to leave the dream world, she whispered into Firael's ear._

"_I've got to go now, I'm about to wake up, or something. I'll be back."_

_Firael watched sadly as Alexa slowly turned transparent before vanishing. She dipped her head into her claws and wept._

* * *

><p>Rynade eventually had to call out his Scizor to help him once he woke up from his fall. The harness he had attached had slightly slowed down his fall, but as he hadn't attatched it properly, it only meant that his fall was made worse by the rope burns he now had on his hands when he had tried to grab the rope. When he had nearly reached the bottom, he pulled the two spare carabiners from his belt and clipped them around the rope so the rope fizzed through them. He then pulled those apart, the extra friction allowing him to slow down even further. However, he still blacked out after hitting the bottom as he couldn't slow down enough.<p>

Staggering with his Scizor, Rynade only meant to climb to the top of the mountain to try and fly to Hearthome for some treatment, but as he was passing a cave entrance, he heard a massive voice rattle his head.

"_**You DARE try to capture me? You shall suffer for your ignorance! JUSTICE!"**_

This was soon followed by an explosion that knocked him and Scizor off their feet. As Rynade struggled back onto his feet, screams briefly rang out, only to be silenced very soon after. Rynade soon found out why when the shock wave hit him, forcing him to his knees again. As he lay on the ground, heaving out deep breaths of air, he heard a voice faintly shout "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then he blacked out. Again.

* * *

><p><em>And on the other side...Steven saw...<em>

_Steven saw another bright light, and it seemed to be getting bigger. __**It danced**__. Steven smiled. He realised that he would not be falling for much longer. He wanted that light..._

_However, a purple portal opened in front of him, and he fell through it. When Steven opened his eyes (or whatever he was now seeing with), he could no longer see the light. _

_He was back in Limbo._

* * *

><p>Alexa woke up, shivering. She glanced at the alarm clock she had smashed one week ago, as it only annoyed her these days and considered her options. Deciding to leave breakfast until later, she reached for the remote and was about to turn on the TV before she heard some voices. The female was doing all the speaking.<p>

"...mbmbengnnn...mental state...mind transfer...mnongznongzgn...Charmande-...dgngnmngmgn...minds joining..."

Her mind whirling, barely able to take in all that infomation, Alexa waited for the door to open. Sonya stepped in, looking extremely worried. When she saw that Alexa seemed to recognise her, her shoulders sagged in relief. She immediately began asking questions.

"How are you feeling?" Her first question was short and simple, just the way Alexa wanted it.

"Me? Good."

"Hmm...okay. What are you planning on doing today?" This one was harder, and Alexa had to think a little before answering.

"I dunno. Stuff...TV." Sonya was beginning to look a little surprised, although Alexa couldn't fathom why.

"...What about breakfast? When do you plan on having that?" Ahh...another easy question.

"Later."

"Later? Okay...last question. What do you plan to do at 3 PM?" Alexa was entirely lost for words, completely confounded by the second half of the question.

"3PM? Err..." Alexa drifted off, unable to answer the question. After a minute or so, she lost interest and started picking at her breakfast again.

"It's okay...just eat your breakfast. Kova and I will leave you alone for now. Bye!" The scientist smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Bye."

* * *

><p>Sonya Tanem wasn't feeling good. When she had first walked into the subject's room, she had immediately noticed two things. Firstly, Alexa was looking completely dishevelled, pale and extremely thin. Her cheekbones were getting more and more pronounced, and her eyes constantly darted around the room.<p>

Secondly, the results from her questions also worried her. Alexa had only said one two-syllable word, and had kept her responses to a bare minimum. The most worrying of her answers was her answer to the last question. She had lost all sense of time. Sonya initially hadn't been too sure what Alexa had been doing when she'd smashed her alarm clock, but now she knew.

She didn't like the knowledge. Knowing what she was single-handedly doing to Alexa's life. This was going past science, and into barbarianism.

* * *

><p>Lucas didn't know how long they stood over the body of Steven. It could have been one hour, or it could have been ten minutes. However, their vigil was disrupted by a voice coming from the corridor.<p>

"What the-"

Lucas felt himself being grabbed by Arceus' psychic force, and looked up at the source of the voice as he flew towards Arceus. He saw a raven-haired man in his twenties staring at them with a look of shock on his face. Once Lucas touched Arceus, the world vanished.

They reappeared at a location unknown to Lucas. He noticed that Arceus had bought Steven's body with him.

"Where are we?"

"**Faraway Island in Hoenn. This is the residence of Mew, when he is here. I bought you here because I didn't know where you wanted to go. Tell me, as I need to go back and attempt to correct my mistakes."**

Lucas started. Mew's home? Looking around him, he he was very high up on a plateau, with many trees and lakes dotting the surface of the plateau. "Me? I would like to go...back home. Can you teleport me to Twinleaf town?"

"**Very well."**

* * *

><p><em>Aron looked around. He was standing on the top of a hill. Looking down upon himself, he saw that he was wearing the same clothes as he wore outside of the dream.<em>

"_Weird..."_

_Deciding that he might as well go for a walk, he started heading towards a clearing of trees, parting the tall grass in front of him. While he was contemplating climbing one of the trees for a look, he heard signs of a battle. Having piqued his interest, he headed over to have a look._

* * *

><p>Rynade got up. He then immediately sat back down again, feeling that he wasn't cut out to be standing at the moment. After another 10 minutes of resting against a rock, he felt sufficiently ready to see what had happened in the cave. Again using his Scizor for support, he slowly made his way to the cave entrance.<p>

He made his way into Spear Pillar, and would have been awed by the sight of it, but he noticed something else. On the other end lay a staircase, and on it, inside a large crater, lay a glowing meteor. Rynade gulped.

"_This couldn't be good..."_

Walking a little gingerly, he managed to make his way up the stairs, staying well away from the still glowing meteor. Once up, he beheld the Hall of Origin.

It was completely destroyed. The floor was pockmarked by huge craters, and charred or bloodied bodies littered the entire hall. His gaze was then diverted to two figures standing over the three. One was a trainer, but the other one...was a...

"What the hell?" Before he managed to say anything else, the other...thing...stepped on a purple square and teleported the trainer away with...it? Him? Her?

"_Bugger...I've lost him again...and how am I meant to track him down now?"_ Rynade sat down. As he did, he recoginised the face of the nearest body to him. He only had four fingers on one hand.

Saturn would have to be told.

* * *

><p><em>Celebi and Palkia reappeared in Limbo. They were focusing on not thinking about the future, although Palkia was having an easier time of it than Celebi, for obvious reasons.<em>

_Looking around, they noticed that Arceus hadn't reappeared. However, another voice sounded out behind them._

"_You guys again?"_

* * *

><p><em>Steven hadn't really expected himself to find himself back in this purple void, and so was trying to get used to the feeling of being able to make whatever he wanted in this place. First he had made his body, but was then interrupted by two Pokemon appearing before him. Recognising them as Celebi and Palkia, he yelled out to them.<em>

"_You guys again?"_

* * *

><p><em>Celebi and Palkia turned around to see Steven standing before them. Celebi shifted awkwardly. <em>

"_Erm...Steven? I've got something to tell you...I..." Celebi started, but was cut across by a much deeper and stronger voice._

"_**Orchestrated his death? I see this now. Would you like to explain why?"**_

Alexa was bored. Ignoring the fact that it was still daytime, she got back into bed and went back to sleep.

_Celebi's watched Steven's face go from an expression of suprise, to fear, and then... to anger and finally, disappointment. Arceus was standing behind Steven, an unreadable expression on Arceus' face._

"_Did you...really...you know?" He asked. Celebi nodded his head._

"_It was necessary, and you did get another 8 months of life, didn't you?" Celebi replied. Palkia stirred._

"_Celebi, don't do this to him. Just show what would have happened if Celebi had told Arceus had been told who Steven was."_

* * *

><p><em>Steven couldn't believe it. Was he some sacrifical lamb to be shunted around the multiverse? He had sacrificed his life back 'home' to save his family, and he'd been sacrificed again...for what, exactly?<em>

_Although he had been gifted with an extra 8 months of life. Still...he hadn't ever gotten the chance to say goodbye...twice._

_Then he heard Palkia ask Celebi to show Steven something, and his vision blacked out._

* * *

><p><em>Alexa found herself in the field again. Now knowing where to go, she began to run towards the forest, and towards Firael. As she ran, she realised several things had happened to her. How was it that she found it so hard to think outside of her dreams? Her memory of her recent conversation with Sonya resurfaced.<em>

_..._

_Had she really sounded that stupid? She never used to speak like that...and how come she had just randomly gone to sleep? What about her breakfast? Sorting through her memories, she found that she hadn't eaten for over 36 hours._

_..._

_She kept on jogging, and was about to reach Firael's place when she remembered the murmured conversation outside the door._

"_**Mind transfer...Oh no..."**_

* * *

><p><em>Aron headed over to the commotion. A woman was battling a swarm of beedrills, or attempting to. In reality, she was just running from them as they chased her. Why didn't she use her Pokemon?<em>

_However, a man stepped out from behind a tree with an orange-furred dog with black stripes, and ordered it to use flamethrower, scattering the beedrill. Holding the woman in his arms he whispered._

"_There...it's okay..."_

_Aron had, by now, reached them. He also noted one of the beedrill lying fainted on the ground. He asked woman, "Why don't you just catch the beedrill?" to which they just looked at him like he was mad._

"_Why would I want to do that? What would I do with it? Eat it?"_

_Aron wasn't sure how to respond. Didn't these people know anything? "No! That's disgusting! Catch them for training!"_

_The man cut in this time. "Are you crazy? How are we supposed, to, as you put it...catch... a Pokemon? Most are too dangerous! Chevron here was raised from a pup, and it's pretty much the only way for Pokemon to trust you! Everything else just tries to drive you away...if you're lucky..." His face turned dark for a moment. "It is possible to get an adult Pokemon to follow you, but so little people have succeeded, and the ones who fail...the only way to get a Pokemon to follow you is through trust."_

_Aron wasn't sure what the man was talking about. Hadn't they heard of Pokeballs? Something struck him._

"_Where are we?"_

_The response was not what Aron was prepared for._

"_Dignin Valley, near Jubilife Village."_

"Village_?" It all hit him..._

And then Aron woke up.

* * *

><p>Saturn was lounging in his office, bored. Deimos and Phobos had been sent on an arbitrary mission to keep them active, and he hadn't heard from Pluto or Mercury recently. His phone rang.<p>

"Hello?"

"Is this Saturn? This is Captain Rynade, serving under Commander Phobos." Saturn's left eyebrow raised. This man was calling a number tha only his commanders had, and claimed to be serving under Phobos. Then why was he using Mercury's number?

"Yes, it's me. How did you get this number?"

"Sir, Mecury's dead. I found this phone on her. Commander Pluto sent me to track the trainer known as Lucas, and I tracked him to this hall in Mount Coronet, and to report his whereabouts to Commander Phobos. He was there with this weird white horse thing with a ring around it, but they disappeared once they saw me. Mercury and a lot of other grunts are here too, all dead. They seem to have been hit by some huge attack. The trainer and Pokemon were standing over the body of this dead boy, and took it with them." Saturn's eyes both opened wide. He had not accounted for the Pokemon being so strong. And the description was like nothing he'd heard of before.

"Captain, tag all bodies. I'll send in a retrieval team to try and see what happened. You are to report straight back to Galactic Headquarters. To me." With that, he hung up.

"_That Pokemon..."_

* * *

><p><em>Steven found himself back at the Hall of Origin. He saw, once again, Arceus materialise in front of Lucas, that man sneak up behind him, and Arceus getting frozen by the ice cannons.<em>

_He saw Lucas block the master ball, and free Arceus from the ice by transforming Arceus into an ice-type. He heard Arceus start to use Judgement, but then..._

_Arceus saw Steven, and hesitated in using his move. That was enough for that man to dive for the Master ball and throw it at Arceus. He then ordered the cannons to be fired at Lucas, leaving him trapped inside, with his Pokemon still at the stairs with Steven and the grunt that now held him._

_The man picked up the master ball, and walked off, the grunts following. Steven being left behind, tied to a rock, left to starve._

_Eventually, Steven watched as Lucas ran out of breathable air, and then died. He saw himself, still sitting by the rock he was tied to, waiting for the inevitable to happen...all alone._

_Then he was jerked back into Limbo. Celebi was still watching him. "You see now? At least your death was faster, Lucas is still alive, and Arceus...Arceus is still here, with us."_

* * *

><p><em>Alexa had told Firael what she had heard, what was happening to her, and what she thought was going to happen to them. Firael wasn't taking it too well.<em>

"_Wait, so you say we're going to swap places? That doesn't seem right. How come you're seeming more and more real, but I've not changed? I don't want to be human anyway." _

_Alexa hugged the Charmander again, feeling herself waking up._

"_**I see..." **__Arceus mused. __**"Well then, Steven, even though you're dead, and this was **_**planned**_** between these...two, I would like to offer you another chance. You may return**__**, but only as a Pokemon." **__With that, another pink glow appeared beside Arceus, and a pink, catlike Pokemon appeared. Palkia's eyes opened in shock._

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, Steven was busying pondering what he had just been told. A second chance?<em>

"_Mew?" The pink Pokemon turned around, eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth, staring at Palkia, the source of the question._

"_My, aren't you two naughty! You wait until after Arceus is finished with Steven...hahaha!"_

_Celebi tried to ignore the second half of the sentence. "But why are you here?"_

_Mew turned a little more serious. "You can't expect me to find a dead body on my island and a psychic presense as strong as Arceus' to not expect to track him here! So...Arcus, what did you need me for?"_

* * *

><p>Sonya sat at her computer. The download last night had accelerated proceedings extremely quickly. Even now, the process was continuing much faster.<p>

They would be finished by tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Alexa woke up. She was content to just lie there. Staring at the ceiling. She couldn't hear anything, not even her breathing, but that didn't bother her.<p>

After a few hours of lying in bed, her vision started to lose colour. First she couldn't see red. Then the blues of her walls vanished, lending a sepia-like quality to her vision. This sight allowed her to recall a song, a song she had forgotten, a song she had heard once, when she was three.

She started to sing. As she did so, her world faded away. Colour by colour, shade by shade. Yellows, and greys slowly trickled out of her vision...

Soon, Alexa could no longer see. Not that she cared. She had forgotten the song again. Not that she knew.

* * *

><p><em>Arceus seemed a little annoyed at his nickname. <em>_**"I've killed Steven, and I would like to give him a second chance, but he can't return to his body, and I'm not going to destroy another human soul to replace with Steven's. You could be reborn as a baby human, but then you lose your memories, which would defeat the purpose of sending you back. Pokemon grow up in a different manner, and you will still remember who you are. Now, the final question is, what Pokemon?"**_

_Mew had an answer. "Zubat! Nah...just kidding." Steven sighed with relief. "What do you want to be?"_

_Steven was lost for words. "I dunno...something that could fly? Yeah!" He remembered his flight on Skarmory and decided that he definitely wanted to be a bird Pokemon. "Some kind of bird Pokemon..."_

_Mew, deep in thought, mused. "Hmm...I've got an idea, but your colouring will be different. Not shiny, but not normal either. You cool with that?"_

_Steven sighed. He had only known Mew for a little while and already found that pink furball annoying. "Ok, as long as it's not outrageous. I don't want to be reborn as a pink Pokemon."_

_Mew chuckled. "Fine! I wasn't thinking of pink at all, but it doesn't matter...I'll send you now!"_

_Steven turned to all the other Pokemon to say goodbye. "Okay guys, guess I'll be seeing you then..."_

_As Steven disappeared, Arceus said one last thing to Steven._

"_**Just remember that nobody, no one, is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Not even me. Good luck."**_

* * *

><p>Rynade sighed, trudging back down Mount Coronet. It was too windy to fly from the top, and he was still sore all over from the shock wave, landing from his fall and the rope burns on his hands. He finally got down to the foot of Mount Coronet, calling out his Murkrow and flying off into the distance.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Arceus turned to Celebi and Palkia. "<strong>So...your punishment."<strong>_

_Celebi felt he had to make some attempt to defend himself. "That's not fair! I saved you from being captured! I also saved Lucas...Steven was going to die either way!"_

_Arceus' head shook. **"There was another way to stop this from happening, but you were too absorbed in your convoluted plans, Celebi. While this may have worked, you have revealed my presence to Team Galactic. Why didn't you just hide one of the plates? I have some novel ideas, but I'll see if Mew has any better ones"**_

Celebi turned pale. Palkia's shoulder gemstones started glowing bright pink. Mew was the most creative legendary Pokemon, especially when it came to pranking other legendaries or humans.

* * *

><p>Steven found himself in a dark space, barely able to move. He was warm, but also a little hungry. He started struggling to get out.<p>

* * *

><p>Aron started. <em>"Woah...that was a weird dream..." <em>Getting up, he turned around to look at the reason he woke up.

The egg he'd been sent by his uncle and aunt was beginning to crack.

* * *

><p>"<em>Got...to...get out!" <em>Steven thought as he fought to escape the walls of his prison. His pushing yielded a crack in the surface, allowing him to see light for the first time...was it the first time?

* * *

><p>Aron saw a crack in the egg, and was transfixed by the shaking, waiting for whatever Pokemon would emerge from the egg.<p>

* * *

><p>Steven pushed against the crack, and after a few moments of pressure, the prison cracked, and Steven's eyes were assailed by light. He heard an impossibly loud voice.<p>

"_That voice..."_

* * *

><p>"Woah! A bird Pokemon...but what are you? You look like this Pokemon from Hoenn, but the colouring...I'll check up on it later. You want something to eat?"<p>

With that, he picked up the black bundle of feathers and walked into the kitchen, where he had some powdered formula. Placing the black-red bird Pokemon on the bench-top, he started to prepare the formula, while the radio went on about the preparations for the Millennium Festival in one year.

* * *

><p>"<em>Aron? Oh no..."<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Crazyjosie and Azure Blue Espeon: You're sadistic. You're happy Steven died? O.o Just joking.<strong>

**There were originally some lyrics to the song, but I've since removed them.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: O.o...who am I?<strong>

**Alexa: You're Steven, you dolt.**

**Steven: Okay then, what am I?**

**Alexa: A dolt.**

**Steven:...**

**Alexa:... ...Ha! I can do longer silences than you!**

**Steven: ** ... ... ... ... ... ...** ... ... ... ... ... ...** ... ... ... ... ... ...** ...**********


	10. New Eyes

Pluto lounged in the armchair of her apartment. She had just been promoted to the rank of captain in Team Rocket, partially in charge of Team Rocket's Research and Development division.

This was exactly what she wanted.

Only Commanders and Captains got to speak to Giovanni in person.

* * *

><p>Steven wasn't sure what to think. He'd just died, and now he was curled up to a milk bottle, getting hand fed by his best friend. Part of him wanted to just be happy he was still alive, but another part of him was feeling embarrassed by the treatment he was getting.<p>

"_Why did you have to give me to Aron? Of all the people in the world..."_

* * *

><p>Aron wasn't sure what to think. A quick check of the Hoenn Pokedex showed his new Pokemon to look a lot like a Taillow, but instead of the blue plumage that would have covered his wings and back, it was black, and the colouring on his underbelly was a light blue instead of the cream white it was meant to be.<p>

Aron had actually decided to call Isrea, whom he had become good friends with over the time they spent with Steven, for her opinion.

Isrea, once she came over and saw the baby Pokemon lying on the porch, immediately ran over and picked him up and started squeezing him to her chest.

"Aww! He's so cute and fluffy!" She was forced to put the Pokemon down as he had started struggling and squawking. "What's wrong with him? I don't recognise his species. Doesn't he like me?"

* * *

><p>Steven was trying to get a good idea of what he was, and it seemed like he had been reborn as a Taillow with different colouring, which he didn't mind at all. What he did mind, however was when someone pounced on him from behind and started squeezing the life out of him.<p>

"Argh! Can't breathe..."

After he was placed on the bench-top again, sprawled out, trying to regain his breath, he realised that the girl who had just tried to kill him was Isrea. She bent down towards him.

"_This is really awkward...my best friend is treating me like a plushie..."_

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to squeeze you that hard...can you say anything?" On the side, she mentioned to Aron. "Pokemon can generally only say the name of their species."

Steven had already expected this, and knew that they wouldn't understand what he said.

"_Ahh, screw it, I'll just say something random..."_

"Whatever pies and cucumber."

* * *

><p>"Taillow, Tail Tail Ta-ailow."<p>

Aron turned to Isrea. "Well, at least we know he's a Taillow...do you have any idea what he said?"

"I dunno...it could have been anything, from him saying hello to something random like...cucumber or fishcake. What are you gonna call him? What's his name?"

"Name? Err..."

* * *

><p>Alexa did not know how long she lay in that bed, stuck in her own little void of emptiness. She didn't mind the silence, the darkness, the lack of smells...<p>

She just lay there...drifting off...

* * *

><p><em>Arceus turned around to face Celebi and Palkia. Celebi tried to make one more last ditch effort to save his skin. "Your freedom and a great trainer's life for that of a boy? I felt it was a fair trade-off..." he trailed off.<em>

"_**Indeed. And do you think Steven feels this was a fair trade-off? If you had asked him beforehand if he had been willing to sacrifice himself for Lucas and I, then I would not have minded. But you...you and Palkia, have meddled in his affairs and manipulated his life for your own benefits. This is not what we are here for. Your love for convoluted planning and plotting has clouded your decision making. Palkia, you could have stopped Celebi, but chose not to, even though you felt what he was doing was wrong. As a result, your punishment will not be as severe." **__Behind him, Mew giggled._

"_Hehe! He knows what I've got planned! Palkia! You're gonna like this!"_

_Celebi paled._

* * *

><p>"Yes...a name. You know, the word people use to call you when they want your attention? Heeelloooo?" Isrea waved her hands in front of Aron, who seemed to have zoned out for a moment.<p>

* * *

><p>Steven took this opportunity to observe and explore his new body. Heading over to the microwave (with some difficulty, his kneecaps had been inverted), he looked at himself in the reflective door. His entire body was covered in black feathers, with the exception of a small amount of red colouring around his head, and a light blue underbelly, which extended to the insides of his wings. Other than that, he looked just like any Taillow. Giving his two-pronged tail an experimental wriggle, he pondered on the other changes he had received.<p>

His eyesight was much better, and he could see the individual pixels on the TV screen in the living room, but he had to get used to his eyes being placed nearer to the sides of his head. He could see further around him, but it was disorientating getting a much wider peripheral vision, and he constantly found himself cross-eyed while subconsciously trying to refocus his eyes. His sense of smell and hearing were vastly improved, and the world that he was now experiencing was vastly superior to the one he had known before he had died.

"_Strange, to not know how much we were missing out on..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Name...those people in my dream...I never found out who they were. Shut up! They were just dreams...then why did it seem so real? I...don't know..." <em>"Ow! Hey!" He was snapped out of his reverie by the hand that was pinching his nose.

"What happened there? You just went all AWOL on me right there! Have you got a name for him yet?"

"Hmm...I'm not very good with names...how about Xanadu?"

"LOW!" came the terrified shout from the bench-top. Aron looked down to find his Taillow glaring angrily at him.

* * *

><p>"<em>Xanadu? What kind of screwed up spaceboy name is that? Ugh...why do I need a new name...although calling a bird 'Steven' does seem a little far fetched. Huh, farfetch'd... I better not get stuck with a name like Xanadu..." <em>Steven was furious. He didn't want to be called some weird name like Xanadu. He wanted something simple...so he voiced his thoughts in the only way he could.

"NO!"

* * *

><p>"Oh...you don't like it?" Aron asked. His Taillow shook his head, firmly indicating that Xanadu wouldn't do.<p>

"Ok, then...I just can't think of any good ones...How about...Boris? No? Err...Petrie? No...I guess not. Janis? Oh wait...that's a girl's name... Neville? Argh...I give up! I can't think of good names!"

"How about Scout?" Aron and Steven turned to look at Isrea, who had decided to come up with a name of her own. Isrea and Aron then looked at Steven, waiting for his approval.

* * *

><p><em>...And it is for this reason, among others, that have led me to consider the remaining years of my life and how I would most like to spend them. I feel that I have contributed enough to Science, and its development within this organisation, and it is with the greatest sorrow that I wish to express my wish to resign from my role as head research officer and retire from Team Rocket upon the completion of this project, regardless of outcome.<em>

_Yours Truly,_

_Sonya Tanem._

* * *

><p>Drifting off..<em>.into sleep.<em>

* * *

><p>Sonya watched from the monitors as the information from the chip showed that she was now sleeping. If she was right, Alexa would never wake up again.<p>

She headed over towards the minibar in their hotel room. "Kova! I need you to head over to Alexa's room in our rented house in..." She checked the readings on her monitor, " 3 hours, got that? We need to pick her up after we finish."

Kova yawned. "Yeah, got it."

"Ok." Sonya headed out of the minibar and back to her computer. She checked the screen.

_Transfer: **99.73**% complete. Estimated time: **1** hour **24** Minutes **45** Seconds_

Sonya sighed. _"This is the last one, remember? No more experiments after this. 3 more hours and you're free from all this forever. Just hold yourself together..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Scout? I guess it's better than Xanadu, or Boris...perish the thought...It'll do for now, I guess..." <em>Satisfied with his new name, Steven gave a chirp of affirmation.

"Ok. I need to go out with Isrea to get some stuff for you, do you want to come?"

"_Why not?"_

Steven, now Scout, nodded his head.

* * *

><p>Kova lay at the minibar with a bottle of beer in his hand, pondering how to dispose of the girl's body. He didn't want to do any dirty work, and was too lazy to do it anyway. He resolved to just carry her to the park and make an emergency call before dumping the body.<p>

The authorities could deal with the bloody stupid vegetable. Why did he have to tie up the loose ends anyway?

* * *

><p>Aron and Isrea headed over to the Pokemart together, with Steven nestled inside Aron's jacket. Inside Aron's jacket, Steven wondered why he didn't mind being carried around like this. At the Pokemart, Steven heard Aron buying some more formula, potions and a small rubber ball. Then...<p>

"Can I also get a Pokeball please?"

Steven blanched. He'd forgotten he would have to be placed in a Pokeball. Aron must have felt Steven, and quickly changed his mind.

"Wait! Sorry, can I get a Glass Ball please?"

Aron felt the small bundle within his jacket relax slightly.

" Sure, that's 400 dollars."

* * *

><p><em>Alexa was back in the forest again. This time, it all seemed so real. Her own body was nearly completely solid, and as she began her run back towards the forest, she noticed something.<em>

_She could smell the grass._

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Palkia...you'll beco-" Arceus had started handing out his punishment, but was cut across by Mew.<strong>_

"_Come on! It was my idea!" Mew pouted. Arceus sighed_

"_**Very well then..."**_

"_Ok! Palkia, you'll be turned into a human! And Celebi, you get to become Palkia's Pokemon! Palkia gets to choose what Pokemon you are, but you choose Palkia's gender!"_

"_WHAT?"_

"_NO WAY!"_

* * *

><p><em>Firael looked up to see Alexa running in her general. She clambered up and walked towards Alexa...<em>

"_Hey! Over here!" Alexa saw her and approached her. She looked even more real than before._

"_Firael, I've just realised! I can smell the grass!"_

"_Um...ok? I could always smell the grass...can you see it?"_

"_Yes, of course!"_

"_Ahh...good...I was beginning to wonder whether you were a figment of my imagination...another one."_

"_Hey!" Alexa shouted out, feeling slightly insulted. Then her vision blacked out..._

* * *

><p><em>She wasn't waking up, but was falling deeper into sleep.<em>

"_How is this possible?"_

* * *

><p>Rynade alighted his Murkrow at Veilstone City. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the Headquarters of Team Galactic, rehearsing his story in his head.<p>

* * *

><p>That night, as Aron got into bed, Steven stood on his bedside table, not knowing where to sleep. Aron solved that problem for him by picking him up and cuddling him to his chest.<p>

"Scout...I go on my journey to become a Pokemon Master in 3 months. You wanna come?"

"Ta." Aron chuckled at his Pokemon- no, his friend's response.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

As Aron drifted off to sleep, Steven huddled closer to Aron, feeling his body's warmth close over him, his heartbeat lulling him to sleep.

"_I could get used to this..."_

* * *

><p><em>Transfer: <em>_**100%**__ complete. Estimated time: __**0**__ hours __**0**__ Minutes __**0**__ Seconds. _

_Now initializing closing sequences: __**0%**__ complete. Estimated time: __**0**__ Hours __**0**__ Minutes __**16**__ Seconds_

* * *

><p>Kova whistled, waiting for the call from Sonya that was the signal for him to enter their rented house and retrieve the subject's body.<p>

* * *

><p><em>...In the abandoned warehouse near Canalave City...<em>

"This is so boring. How long are we meant to be watching a sedated Charmander for? It's been 8 bloody months since she was put to sleep!" One of the scientists there moaned to his friend over lunch.

"Quiet! You want to be on the receiving end of those wires on that Pokemon?"

* * *

><p><em>Alexa opened her eyes and saw that sphere, dancing with multicoloured lights...<em>

_And within that sphere, lightning leaped from the outer shell to the core..._

_And in the centre of the sphere...the core..._

_There was..._

_Exactly..._

_**Nothing.**_

* * *

><p><em>Transfer: <em>_**100%**__ complete. Estimated time: __**0**__ hours __**0**__ Minutes __**0**__ Seconds. _

_Now initializing closing sequences: __**0%**__ complete. Estimated time: __**0**__ Hours __**0**__ Minutes __**0**__ Seconds_

_Terminating program..._

_..._

_..._

_.._

_._

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"Kova, you can go in now. The orders are to dispose of the body in any possible way." Sonya's voice, a little tinny over the phone, carried a tone of elation and...disgust?

"Ok. Bye."

Smirking, Kova headed into the house. The nurses at Jubilife Public Hospital would be getting quite a shock tonight.

* * *

><p>Sonya walked out of her hotel room, and posted her notice of resignation at the post office. Then she bought a plane ticket to Unova from the travel agent, and got on the train to Canalave City, intending to head for the airport there.<p>

"_Never again..."_

* * *

><p><em>LIGHT!<em>

Alexa opened her eyes. But were they her eyes?

* * *

><p>"<em>You have got to be joking...You can't turn me into a Pokemon!" Celebi started to panic and was shouting at Arceus. Behind him Mew was trying to contain her laughter, while Palkia stood off to the side, deep in thought.<em>

"_**My word is final. Palkia? What should Celebi become?"**_

"_Hmm..." Palkia whispered into Mew's ear. Mew's ears drooped. "Aww...you didn't pick an evil Pokemon like Zubat, Bronzong or Ludvisc for Celebi to be..."_

"_**Celebi, will Palkia be a male or female?"**_

"_Female." Palkia nodded, relieved that she would stay the same gender._

_Mew eyes sparkled with delight. "Ok!"_

* * *

><p>"Unnh!" Aron groaned as he got out of bed. For some weird reason, school always finished on a Monday, which meant that he had to go to school for one day before going on winter holidays for 2 months. The reason behind this was that the last day was more formal, with a third of the day being taken up by a long assembly, followed by a cleanup of the general area, before getting out of school early.<p>

Still, he wished the holidays had already started. Picking up Steven, he deposited the baby Taillow onto his bedside table and went to brush his teeth.

Steven woke up, not knowing where he was, before he recognised the walls of Aron's bedroom. His keen hearing picked up the sounds of teeth being brushed. Getting up, and brushing himself off, Steven hopped onto Aron's bed and decided to try running and jumping.

Running and jumping were easy, but Steven was glad that he decided to practice jumping on a soft surface. Jumping was easy...but landing wasn't. He overbalanced and fell onto his beak.

"Oof!"

* * *

><p>Alexa woke up, not knowing where she was, before she recognised the padded walls and floors of her original cell.<p>

"_Aww...not this place again...I thought I was still in that hotel place?"_

Her musings were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"_What. What? Is that you, Alexa?"_

Firael.

* * *

><p>When Aron came back from the bathroom, he found Steven sprawled out on the bed, and couldn't help laughing at his friend's predicament.<p>

"What have you been doing while I've been away? Look Scout, I've gotta go to school, but today is the last day of school. After that I'll have 2 months of holidays before I start secondary school. At secondary school we're allowed to bring Pokemon, as long as they're well behaved, but I can't do this in primary school. Anyway, I'll only be a secondary school for 1 month before I'm old enough to register. So basically, you've gotta stay at home alone for today only, ok?"

"Ta!" Steven chirped back.

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh no...We're in the same body...Alexa?"<em>

"_Hmm?"_

"_Don't look at your hands. I know you want to. Just don't move. I know a way that might get us free, but you've got to let me control...us."_

"_Oh."_

Alexa felt her conscious mind get dragged back, to be replaced with Firael's mind. It was quite similar, but bore several contrasts with her personality. Firael was more aggressive, passionate and savage than she was.

* * *

><p>"<em>I guess I have no choice...wait...one more thing. Mew, you know how Steven's body was left on your island? Could you drop it off at Hearthome city in two weeks? It's to ensure his friend gets the items in Steven's will, but you have to do it after 2 weeks."<em>

"_Ok... It's a strange request, but you're going to have to get used to strange for a while, so I'll do it! Have fun!" With that, Mew teleported Celebi and Palkia away before disappearing herself._

_Arceus shook his head. "__**So childish..."**_

* * *

><p>After Aron left for school, Steven decided that he would try flying. He ran off the bed, flapping his wings frantically to gain height.<p>

"_I'm flying! This is so awesom-"_

Thud.

"Ow..."

* * *

><p>Palkia opened her eyes to find that she was sitting in a chair, one Luxury ball strapped to her belt. People bustled around, all heading to a woman with pink hair and a red cross on her hat. Assuming that she was in a Pokemon centre, she wondered how no one noticed her sudden appearance.<p>

"_I'm psychic you silly! I just made them think that you've always been there. Psychics can do that, you know. Money is in your back left pocket, some provisions are in the bag, and you can guess what's in your Pokeball. Also, you can speak to Pokemon, so Celebi can still abuse you whenever you fail epically."_

Palkia shook her head to dispel Mew's annoying voice, checked her bag and her pockets, and joined the queue to book a place to sleep.

* * *

><p>Celebi opened his eyes. In front of him lay nothing. Looking around him, he saw nothing. Reckoning that this place seemed a little like Limbo, he tried making something...and a glowing cube appeared in front of him.<p>

"_Ahh well...time for some interior decoration..."_

Waving his arms mainly for the effect, he started creating a house, and a hilly area around it, but during his work he failed to notice one thing.

His arms were dark green.

* * *

><p>Firael looked up and around her. Noting that she seemed to be alone in the room at the moment, she proceeded to lay down to sleep.<p>

"_Hey! I thought you said you were going to do something, like burn down the room or something..." _Alexa's voice sounded in her head.

"_Look Alexa, let me go to sleep, and I'll explain my plan to you."_

* * *

><p><em><em>...And it is for this reason, among others, that have led me to consider the remaining years of my life and how I would most like to spend them. I feel that I have contributed enough to Science, and its development within this organisation, and it is with the greatest sorrow that I wish to express my wish to resign from my role as head research officer and retire from Team Rocket upon the completion of this project, regardless of outcome.<em>_

_Yours Truly,_

_Sonya Tanem._

Giovanni growled, crushing the letter he had just had delivered to him. His most valuable scientist had just decided to leave, and he didn't have anyone to take her place. At least she'd be finished with the current project she was working on.

* * *

><p>Pluto was walking past Giovanni's room when she was called in.<p>

"Captain Nix? Come in."

She walked into his room. Contary to expectation, it was the same size as hers, but the desk at which Giovanni sat at was of the finest mahogany wood, and several shelves of memorabilia rested on the walls.

"Yes, sir?"

"I need you to call our research team in Canalave. Ask them how their Charmander is going. Tell them I expect a full report in 3 days."

"Yes, sir.

* * *

><p>As the Charmander lay asleep, three scientists crept into her cell and moved her into a room. It had a large mirror on one wall, and the entire room was covered in a shiny white plastic. One of them whispered to the one next to him.<p>

"Hey! Why is there a mirror on that wall? Is it some kind of one-way mirror or something?"

His colleague was quick with her reply.

"No! It's just a normal mirror. What does it look like? If you want to know why it's there, go ask the psychiatrists."

* * *

><p>Steven got up, wincing from falling on his right wing. Flying was a little harder than he had anticipated. Falling wasn't much fun, and landing was worse. Sighing, he decided to try flapping his wings as quickly and as hard as he could.<p>

All he got were some messy feathers and sore wing muscles. Grooming himself a little, he was about to go back to rest on Aron's bed when he realised something.

He couldn't get back up.

_"Ugh...I wish I had hands...then I could climb back up..."_

Instead, he hopped towards the staircase, deciding to head for the sofa in the living room downstairs.

"_Hmm...I can't fly, but what if I don't flap? What happens then?"_

Spreading his wings he jumped off as high and as far as he could from the staircase, and felt his wings catch some of the air as he angled them slightly downwards. He was gliding down the stairs.

"_Whoo! I'm flying! Well, I'm gliding, but it's still pretty cool!"_

While he glided down, he realised that he could make small turns with his tail, and used that to glide into the living room. As he was over the sofa, he decided to try flapping his wings, but once he had pulled his wings up, he lost balance and tumbled towards the sofa.

"Aww...at least it didn't hurt this time..." he grumbled to himself, buried in the folds of the sofa.

* * *

><p>Palkia walked out of the Pokemon Centre after booking a bed, and headed towards the park, where Pokemon were allowed out of their balls to run around a bit. In most cities, large Pokemon were banned within city limits as it tended to cause accidents and large Pokemon also took up too much space. However, smaller Pokemon were allowed.<p>

Still, Palkia had decided that she wanted a little privacy, and so headed deep into the park before releasing Celebi.

"_Celebi needs a new name. I'll still call him Celebi, but he needs a name for others to call him by."_

* * *

><p>Celebi had finished the final touches to the hedge maze he had made about 500 metres away from his house, and was about to fly to his house before he realised he had no wings anymore.<p>

"_Aww...crap. What am I?"_

However, before he had a chance to look himself over, his vision disappeared, and Celebi found himself with a red-haired girl, about 15 years old. After looking him over for a second, she spoke,

"Celebi, is that you?"

"Of course it's me! Although you probably can't understand me, so I don't know why I bother answering." Celebi was surprised by what came next.

"Hey! I can understand what you're saying! Anyway, you're an Axew, which is a Unovan Pokemon. We're currently in Mistralton City, and I basically plan to stay here a few days, see how well you know your own form, and then we'll fly to Sinnoh. By the way, I assume you know who I am?"

Celebi winced a little when Palkia mentioned how he had to learn his new form, but was puzzled as to why Palkia wanted to go to Sinnoh.

"Yes Palkia. Why do you want to head to Sinnoh? What's wrong with Unova?"

"Ok, look. I'm not actually a registered trainer yet, and we're ages away from Nuvema Town where you register. Also, Sinnoh is my home region, and I know the Sinnoh Pokemon much better than the Unovan ones." Palkia replied.

* * *

><p><em>Firael and Alexa found themselves in the forest again, and Alexa was relieved that she wouldn't have to run again from the field she used to find herself in. Firael started speaking first.<em>

"_Alexa. This is my plan. They obviously want Pokemon with human intelligence. Why? I don't know. Most Pokemon are as smart as humans. Maybe they want Pokemon to speak human, or have more loyal Pokemon, but this is the fact of the matter. We must act as if you" She pointed at Alexa, " don't exist. Basically, let me control our body, and they might think the experiment had failed, and release us."_

_Alexa now understood why Firael hadn't tried to burn down the cell and had ordered her not to look at her han-... claws. That was human behaviour, not Pokemon behaviour._

"_Ok. I won't even speak to you when we're awake...I don't want to give something away."_

* * *

><p>Aron got home at about 1 o'clock, and was a little surprised to find Scout lying on the couch, looking a little bored. He walked over and picked him up, saying...<p>

"Hey, you want lunch?"

"Ta!" Came the reply. Scout jumped from his hands and glided into the kitchen, but couldn't get enough height to get onto the bench top, instead skidding to a halt on the floor. Aron chuckled and put Scout back on the bench top.

"So, you can fly now?" Scout shook his head, looking a little forlorn. He'd been spending the rest of the morning jumping and flapping his wings, but to no avail.

"Hell, it doesn't matter. You do realise that Taillow only start learning to fly when they're about 2 weeks old? You're 1 day old and you can already glide...sort of, in nearly straight lines...but hey, it's something!"

* * *

><p>After depositing the Charmander in the new cell, the scientists headed back to the main lab for some coffee. As they walked past an office, one of the few grunts working there ran out with a phone, saying,<p>

"Hey! I've got Captain Nix on the phone. She wants to speak to a scientist." One of the scientists reached out her hand, and was given the phone.

" Hello? Vila Turnel here. I'm a head scientist at this facility."

"This is Captain Nix. I've been ordered by Giovanni to ask for another report on your project. Send two copies for backup purposes. Deliver them to the Post office in Celadon city, and I'll pick it up there."

* * *

><p><strong>First up, I have to acknowledge Buwaro for name of Scout, which went to another bird Pokemon in his fic. I hope he doesn't mind me using the name, but it's only temporary anyway. For how long, you'll have to see! You'll get a more detailed description of what Celebi and Palkia now look like in the next chapter.<strong>

**Oh, can anyone guess what the mirror in Alexa/Firael's cell is for? It's a perfectly normal mirror, and doesn't have any tricky devices in it or anything.**

**Crazyjosie: I hope you're right and this does turn out to be an awesome chapter...**

**Ryu D: I've already PM'd you, and can't really comment on your review too much without spoiling the plot**

**Cyberfire22: I guess cliches are a part of any story, but I'm really just making fun of myself with the cliche thing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: I failed to fly.<strong>

**Alexa: No you didn't.**

**Steven: Yes I did! I crashed...twice!**

**Alexa: Ah...so you **_**failed**_** to land.**

**Steven: One day...I'm gonna get you and #&$%*&%^$*$%&$**($&(%^*)(#^#!**

**Alexa: Ow. Really?**

**Steven: No.**


	11. Last Will and Testament

**DISCLAIMER: All your base aren't belong to us!**

* * *

><p>Pluto walked into her apartment and opened the envelope that contained the reports on their project. She couldn't believe that it had taken them 4 days to actually send the report out from Sinnoh. She took the first copy and placed it into another envelope, and wrote what was written on all other reports delivered to Giovanni:<p>

_For Giovanni's eyes only - Canalave City branch progress report._

This would be given to Giovanni later. She then settled to read her own copy of the report.

_**Report on Subject 24: Follow up of the transfer of human consciousness into that of a Pokemon's**_

_The consciousness of Subject 23 has been shown to no longer reside within Subject 23's body. Upon study of Subject 24, the host Pokemon, we are, as of now, still unsure about whether the transfer of consciousness has been grafted successfully. After waking, we have kept Subject 24 sedated for 3 days while we prepared a room for the subject. _

_The room should provide us with a better insight into the current mental state of Subject 24._

_-Vila Turnel_

Pluto put the report down. _"Interesting..."_

She picked up the duplicate report and placed it into another envelope, before writing on it:

_Express Courier to Galactic Veilstone Building, Veilstone City, Sinnoh._

Grabbing some stamps, she walked out of her apartment with both envelopes.

* * *

><p>Steven woke up. Nudging Aron so he could get out, he hopped to the bedside desk and pecked at Aron until he woke up. Afterwards, he glided to the carpeted floor and gave his wings an experimental flap, before heading towards the staircase and gliding into the kitchen.<p>

He had gotten really good at gliding, but still couldn't flap without crashing. Aron was trying to figure out why, but Steven just reckoned that it was something that would eventually come with time.

After all, physically, he was only 4 days old.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Aron swiped at Scout, who was pecking at his ear. Seeing as he had woke up, Scout then headed of towards the kitchen<p>

"_He wants breakfast, no doubt."_

After breakfast, Aron and Steven were about to head into the park to practice gliding and try flying again before they received a knock on the front door.

Upon answering, Aron found himself looking at a man in his forties with slightly greying hair and a slight smile on his face.

"Aron? I'm Isrea's dad and I know you're good friends with her. Basically, my wife and I have got a surprise birthday party set up for her, because she's eleven today and eligible to become a trainer, and we need you to keep her occupied for a little while before bringing her back to our house. Of course, you're invited to the party and also for the trip to Sandgem to get her starter."

* * *

><p>Saturn mulled over his conversation with Rynade<p>

"_That pokemon...white and centaur-like, with a ring suspended around his midriff...why haven't I heard of that pokemon before? Hmm... I'll ask that captain...Ryanide or something, to draw it for me."_

Whatever that pokemon was, he wanted it. Pokemon were flawed beings, just like humans, but he believed that they could combine the two to make the perfect person...and for that he needed the best pokemon.

_"And the best pokemon...is it that one?"_

* * *

><p>Sonya had reached Canalave city and had booked a ticket to Nuvema Airport.<p>

"_Two more days...and I'll be free. My hands free of blood."_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Palkia and Celebi still hadn't decided on names for each other.<p>

"Seb's a ridiculous name for me...just cause it sounds like Celebi doesn't mean it should be my name!" Celebi growled, rubbing his tusks with his paws. He still hadn't gotten used to the two teeth that jutted out the sides of his mouth.

"Well, I could just give you a random name, like Riguel or something..."

"NO! Not that...well, you could called yourself Shelly...or Sharon. Yeah...that's not a bad name..."

Palkia considered the name."Sharon's not bad...yeah...I'll just keep it. Do you even want a name? I mean, I could just call you Axew. You didn't have a name when..." Palkia, now Sharon, stopped speaking as someone walked past them. "You were Celebi." she finished.

"I guess...I'll just stick with Axew. And I still haven't thanked you for not making me a weird pokemon like vileplume or rotom. At least my body is still similar, I just can't fly and have these...teeth things jutting out here. I just hope I don't evolve."

Sharon smiled, glad that she'd gotten everything out of the way. "Great! I'll book us a ticket to Sinnoh then. We should probably be here another 2 days or so."

* * *

><p>Firael woke up. The first thing she saw was white. It was everywhere. The entire room was made of a shiny white plastic...except for a patch on the wall...it looked like a mirror...<p>

"_A mirror?"_

Alexa responded before she remembered not to say anything.

"_Dunno why it's there, maybe it's a one-way mirror or something."_

Now suspicious, Firael looked around her new cell. There didn't seem to be any form of surveillance anywhere in the room. She walked up to the mirror and inspected it closely...

* * *

><p>Vila Turner, the head researcher at the Canalave branch of Team Rocket's bases, walked into the main Operations Centre of the Canalave branch of Team Rocket. Walking over to the psychiatrist, who was staring at the charmander, she asked him.<p>

"Ok, I'm the head scientist here, why the mirror? Is it for the subject to see herself turned into a pokemon and freak out? Because if that's the case, you've forgotten that the human subject has already woken up and knows she's a charmander."

The psychiatrist smiled. "You're thinking with the wrong mindset. If you woke up in a room after being experimented on for a long time, and the only interactive object in it was a mirror, what object would you be most suspicious of?"

Vila frowned. "The mirror? I guess I'd think it was some sort of trick mirror...Is that what you're looking for?"

"And is a mirror something for a pokemon to be suspicious of?"

* * *

><p>"Is it Isrea's birthday today? Oh yeah...I forgot! I need to get her a present of some kind...when do you need me to get her away from the house?"<p>

"About noon. It would probably take us two to three hours to set up the party, so bring her back then. We'll leave a box outside the door if we still aren't finished"

"Ok, I'll be round by then. Bye! I got to go and get a present. Come on, Scout." Steven jumped from his hand into the inside pocket of his hoodie.

* * *

><p>"<em>No! We're playing into their hands! Breathe fire on the mirror or something!"<em> Alexa's voice rang out in Firael's mind.

She instantly began summoning a ball of fire from the liquid fire that brewed in the pits of her stomach and released it at the mirror, spreading it towards the rest of the wall. She then decided to test just how fireproof the room was, and concentrated all her fire on one spot, her fire beginning to grow white-hot.

_"They expected Alexa to be suspicious of the mirror?" _Firael thought. _"Smart"_

* * *

><p>As they lay in bed, Celebi asked Palkia a question.<p>

"Palk- Sharon? What will we do in Sinnoh? Do you want to get the badges, or do you just want to travel around and see the region?"

Sharon mused over the question."Hmm...Axew...I'm not sure...I don't think I want to catch other Pokemon, seeing as we won't be stuck like this forever, and just letting them go seems...wrong. I'll have to think about it."

* * *

><p>"<em>What to buy...what to buy..." <em>Aron thought. This was really the first time he'd shopped for anyone other than himself, and he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to get for her. For himself, he'd already gotten himself a harmonica and a bag of chips for Scout.

"_Scout...pokemon! Isrea's 11 today! She'll probably be getting a starter...so I can get her a ribbon or something else for the starter...yeah..."_

With that, Aron headed off towards the pokemon clothing section.

* * *

><p>Steven was happy to sit in Aron's pocket and eat the chips that Aron put in there. He could hear Aron buying some scarf thing for Isrea. Aron then patted Steven through the coat pocket and whispered to him.<p>

"To Isrea's and then to the park, ok?

* * *

><p>Vila's eyes widened. "Quick! Sedate Subject 24! She's trying to escape!"<p>

The psychiatrist turned towards Vila, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you fireproofed the room?"

"I did, but I don't want the subject overexerting herself...although I think that behaviour indicates that she still has the mentality of a pokemon. She walked away.

The psychiatrist knotted his eyebrows. "I'm not so sure...there seemed to be an inkling of something there..."

* * *

><p>"<em>Bugger...it's not working." <em>Firael heard Alexa mutter.

"_Yes, but they expect me to keep trying, don't they?" _Firael responded in her head. Suddenly, she heard a clicking sound behind her, and she turned to face a man pointing a stun gun at her.

He fired.

"Char!" Firael screamed as electricity coursed through her body, flowing through the stun probes now embedded in her chest. Feeling as though she had just been gutted by ice-cold wire, she collapsed onto the ground, twitching as the other men picked her up, carefully avoiding her tail, which was flaring up unpredictably

She couldn't move, and had to feel herself being carried through unknown corridors and passageways before being dumped...

Into a steel cage.

* * *

><p>"Hel- oh, it's you, Aron...what did you call over for?" Isrea hadn't expected Aron to just turn up on her doorstep.<p>

"I dunno really...you want to come with me to the park? I need to ask you what you're gonna do after your birthday."

"_Has he already forgotten what my birthday was? I'll let it stew for a bit, and then tell him. That'll teach him to forget!" _Isrea thought. What she said was, "Yeah, ok."

* * *

><p>Rubbing her chest where the stun probes had hit her, Firael stalked around her cage...it was wide enough to walk around in, and high enough to stand up in, but that was it.<p>

She was trapped.

* * *

><p>While Aron and Isrea chatted about school and the recent Silver conference, Steven was still trying to figure out how to fly. He was trying to jump and flap his wings once to get a small height boost, as he figured that that was the first thing one had to learn to be able to fly.<p>

What did happen was that Steven kept on landing on his back every time he flapped his wings.

"Yer doing it wrong." Steven whirled around at the source of the voice, and saw a starly perched on a tree branch, attempting to smother a grin.

"What, flying?"

"Yeeaaaeeep." The starly dragged out the word. It sounded like he was enjoying himself.

"Well...what am I doing wrong? Could you tell me?" Steven begged the starly, and as he got a better look, he recognised it. It was the first pokemon he ever saw on his first day of life in this world, whilst he was walking to school.

"Yes, but tell me why you're all funny-coloured. Your trainer don't seem the type to use dye."

"Oh...err...I was born with this colouring. My friend doesn't use dye, it's just natural. Now can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?"

The starly sighed. "Ok...I don't fully buy your story, but it's something. As to your technique, you're making one simple mistake that pretty much every bird pokemon makes on their first go. You need to use your tail to counterbalance your wings. Your wings aren't exactly in the centre of your body, so flapping them is gonna to make ya spin around. You have to make your tail beat downwards when your wings flap to cancel it out. It's hard to get the hang of at first, but eventually it comes naturally. You gonna tell me the full story sometime?"

"Really?" Steven immediately tried jumping and flapping his wings while pushing his tail downwards. Instead of flipping over backwards, he found his wings catching the air, and managed to push himself upwards. However, by the time he'd tried to flap again, he had already hit the ground again. "Woah! Thanks for that! What's your name? Mine's Ste- Scout."

"Your wings aren't strong enough, but at least you've got the general idea. Build up the muscles in your wings, and you'll be able to fly. By the way, me name's Rush"

* * *

><p>After dropping the envelope meant for Saturn at the Post Office, Pluto walked into the Rocket headquarters and into Giovanni's room, after knocking.<p>

"Nix? Ahh...you've got the report then?"

"Yes sir. Could I know what it's about?"

"You? Not at the moment. Note how it says 'for Giovanni's eyes only?' That means that you aren't entitled to know anything about this...not yet. Dismissed."

As she left Giovanni's room, Pluto smirked.

"_Too late."_

* * *

><p>While they watched Scout trying to learn how to fly, Aron and Isrea's conversation turned to pokemon training.<p>

"So, Isrea, you're eleven today...and you want to be a trainer?

"_Oh, so he knows it's my birthday today...then why hasn't he mentioned it?"_

"Yeah, of course I do! My parents are really happy for me to go and be a pokemon trainer, only..."

"Only what?"

"I don't really want to go on my journey on my own...when do you turn eleven?"

"I'm really lucky, I turn eleven in two about two months, so basically I get the winter holidays, turn eleven, and then get to go and train pokemon!"

"Hmm...ok...do you want to do the journey with me? I'll wait the extra two months, get to know my starter better...that sound good to you?"

Aron was surprised that she had offered to postpone her journey, but pleased nevertheless that he would have a travelling companion on his journey. Checking his watch, he realised that now would be a good time to go back to Isrea's house.

"Hey, you wanna go back? Scout looks pretty tired." With that he called Scout over, and Scout jumped into Aron's outstretched hand, using his wings for extra propulsion.

"Hey! You can flap your wings without flipping around now! Good work!" Aron exclaimed as he put Scout back into his jacket pocket rubbing the back of his head as he did so. It was something he found out that Scout really liked.

"Taillow..."

* * *

><p>Rynade had been given 1 month's stress leave, and so went back home to rest. 1 month was actually a minimum, and his holiday would extend until he was next called upon.<p>

"_Awesome..." _he thought as he flipped onto the couch and turned on the TV.

News.

"_What? I get to watch some TV and I get the news? And it's about that festival that won't be on for nearly another year anyway..."_

His phone rang.

"Hello?"

"I need a drawing of that pokemon you saw. Deliver it to me tomorrow. You can have your leave then. Goodbye." Saturn hung up.

Rynade was left gawking at his phone. Sighing, he put the receiver down and grabbed a pencil and paper.

* * *

><p>On the fourth day after leaving Team Rocket, Sonya stepped out on the tarmac, headed towards the plane to Nuvema city. Shivering in the cold of the early morning, she was still trying to reconcile herself with what she'd done to Alexa.<p>

"_I destroyed her life. There isn't another way to twist it. Why? For science? For glory? For money?"_

"_Why? ...I don't know."_

* * *

><p>Isrea still thought that Aron was acting a little strange, what with him knowing about her birthday but not taking note of it. This was soon answered when the two of them entered the front door of Isrea's house.<p>

"Surprise!"

Out of nowhere, a pillow came flying out and hit Aron in the head.

"Oops, we missed...Happy Birthday Isrea!"

Isrea didn't know whether to laugh or smile at her parents' attempt at a surprise party. Still, there was always cake.

Isrea's birthday party was nearly just a family affair, with her relatives from Hoenn also coming over for the occasion. Aron felt a little left out, as he was the only one not from her family.

"Hey Aron! Come over here! We're taking a photo!" Isrea's mother was beckoning for him to come over. Shrugging, he went over and the picture was taken.

After the photo came the presents. Isrea received several gifts of money, clothing and supplies for her pokemon journey, and when it came to Aron to give her his present, he told her "Don't open it yet, just wait until you've got your starter before opening it."

As the last of the cake was finished, Isrea's family and Aron all bundled into a rented minibus, and drove to Sandgem town to get Isrea's starter.

* * *

><p>Lucas had stayed in Twinleaf town for a few days, and felt that he should at least confirm Arceus' existence with Professor Rowan. He looked at his belt, and realised that he still held the Master ball, and hadn't given it to anyone.<p>

"_This isn't mine to keep...I should at least give this to someone who knew Steven..."_

* * *

><p><em>In Hearthome City...<em>

Mr. Axel hadn't expected the boy, Steven Borell to make it to Hearthome city so quickly. However, he had received a letter detailing him to read the will today, supposedly from Steven, 1 and a half weeks before it was meant to be read. He walked into his office, and called two of his friends, of whom he frequently used as witnesses.

No sooner had they arrived when the boy, Steven Borell walked in. The will was read.

* * *

><p><em>As Arceus watched the will reading unfold beneath him, he allowed himself a grin. <em>_**"Celebi may be foolish at times, but sending that letter and using Stephen in place of Steven was a stroke of genius. Now for Steven's body. I would congratulate the Celebi waiting outside the door, but that would just confuse him."** he chuckled again at the thought._

* * *

><p>The Steven's mother's last Will and Testament was finished, and the boy had just given all his possessions to his best friend. Mr. Axel was used to children doing something like that. However, ss he watched the boy leave, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else in the room, but it didn't matter, as Messrs Axel and Co. had other clients to attend to. Time was money, and Mr. Axel could never have too much money, and always had too little time.<p>

* * *

><p>The next day, the boy was found dead. The police couldn't say what killed him, other than it wasn't a known human weapon or pokemon attack that caused it. Mr. Axel was notified and preparations were made regarding Aron Silpha and the delivery of the body to Floaroma town.<p>

* * *

><p>When they'd reached Professor Rowan's lab, Professor Rowan was already waiting outside, with a group of 2 other prospective trainers. He saw Isrea's family approach and smiled.<p>

"Sorry, but only the person registering may enter. I can't have everyone in my lab, you know."

Isrea shrugged, and followed the other children, one her age, and one a little older into the lab.

* * *

><p>Firael had nothing to do, so in her boredom she drifted off into sleep. Natural sleep, for the first time in over 8 months.<p>

* * *

><p>As Aron and Isrea's family waited for Isrea to reappear, he saw a blond trainer land near Professor Rowan's lab. At the same time, Isrea emerged with a Pokeball in her hand, her face radiating joy.<p>

"Aron! You won't believe what I got! If only Steven were here to see this!" She said, obviously giddy with excitement.

"Yeah...pity he's still in Hearthome City." Aron replied

"Steven?"

* * *

><p>Palkia and Celebi had decided to catch the late-night plane to Canalave. Upon entering, Palkia headed towards the toilet, not wanting any calls of nature while in customs. As she approached the door, however, she heard sniffling behind her.<p>

* * *

><p>Lucas had just landed when he realised that Rowan was giving out the starters to new trainers.<p>

"_Ahh well...I guess I'll just have to wait." _he thought as he walked over, intending to wait by the minibus parked in front of the lab.

However, as he neared the lab, he saw a girl run out, obviously just having received her starter. He smiled. _"I remember when I felt the same way..."_

His smile didn't last long when he heard what the girl and a boy who had just emerged from the minibus were saying.

"Aron! You won't believe what I got! If only Steven were here to see this!"

"Yeah...pity he's still in Hearthome City."

"_They knew Steven? How many boys named Steven could have been heading to Hearthome City? It had to be them."_

"Steven?"

* * *

><p><em>Firael and Alexa found themselves back in the forest. The first thing Firael noticed about Alexa was that she looked a little different.<em>

_"Alexa? Is your skin usually an orangish colour?"_

* * *

><p>Sonya couldn't take it anymore. After she had alighted her flight, she headed for a toilet for some privacy, but before she could make it, a girl heard her and stopped her.<p>

"Are you all right?"

Sonya decided to tell the girl everything. She didn't care what the other girl thought about her afterwards, but someone else had to know. Anyway, getting reprimanded by a teenager should slap some sense back into her.

Then she could finally be at peace with herself.

"C-come with me to the lounge...I'll tell you everything."

"Ok, my name's Sharon. What's yours?"

"S-Sonya Tanem."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Steven has...passed away." Aron couldn't believe what he was hearing. This blond trainer had just turned up and told him his best friend was dead.<p>

"What?"

"He's dead. And seeing as you two know him, I'll give you this Master ball. He caught a pokemon with this just before he died, so you can't use it to catch anything but the pokemon he caught isn't in there. He let it out, but didn't release it. Guard this ball with your life. The pokemon he caught...is a very important one. Don't lose this ball."

"How do I know you aren't lying? How do you know Steven is dead? How the bloody hell do you know?" Aron could feel Scout squriming in his jacket pocket.

* * *

><p>Imagine that you've just heard that you've been killed. This was how Steven felt. Hearing the news of his own death bought back the harsh reality that was the world he lived in. He squirmed uncomfortably, wanting the discussion to move on to another subject.<p>

It felt like someone was walking over his grave.

* * *

><p>As Giovanni finished the delivered report, he thought about Nix's request. Sure, it was a little strange for a Captain to obtain information that only he should know, but he wasn't sure if he wanted this project continued, and a second opinion couldn't hurt. Especially from a Captain in the R&amp;D division within his organisation.<p>

* * *

><p>"You don't. I know you can't trust me now, but when he doesn't come back, you will. I am the trainer that escorted him, or tried to, through Mount Coronet. As to what happened there, I cannot tell you."<p>

"So it's YOUR fault he's dead!" Isrea yelled as Aron held Scout tighter, as Scout seemed to be getting very agitated.

"In a sense, yes. But mostly because of Team Galactic. They held him hostage, and..." With that, the trainer's eyes clouded over. "I cannot say. All I can tell you was that there was no way I could have seen it coming, and there was no way I could save him. I'm so sorry."

"You say that like you're a skilled trainer! How do we know you are one? Maybe you were in it just for the money! Tricking an innocent boy into believing you were-" Isrea started yelling at the blond trainer, before Aron cut in.

"Hey! I remember you! You're that trainer who dropped that yellow rectangle at Jubilife! Who are you?"

"Me? I am Lucas."

Aron punched him in the face.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope the thing with the mirror was realistic. It seemed to make more sense in my head, but the fact that noone saw it coming was a little worrying. Technically, this is the last appearance of Stephen in the fic, and I'm glad I finally worked the will scene into the main storyline. Now I don't have to worry about forgetting that little tidbit of infomation.<strong>

**Tsaukpaetra: Glad someone else has actually read Tales of Flame...**

**CrazyJosie: Well, there WAS some burning in this chapter, but not much...and it wasn't that effective...**

**ValeforXD: Correct. Google Docs is my excuse, and I'm glad you think so highly of this story. We should both probably go to bed earlier as well, huh?**

**Cyberfire: You'll just have to wait and see...**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: You found out. It was a little bit anti-climatic, but I've just realised that Celebi didn't have his own name before, so it would have been a little OOC if he decided on getting a new one. Palkia needed a name, of course.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: This chapter really featured me! I don't care if you keep them short...just more ME...!<strong>

**Alexa: Really? The author hasn't really treated your character well, you know.**

**Steven: Oh yea...more HER! !**

**Alexa: Ok...that's just sadistic. **

**Please Review! If this chapter sucks, I want to know WHY, not that it sucks. Thanks for reading!**


	12. A Series of Fortunate Events

**DISCLAIMER: If ownership were a pokemon, mine would be level 0 (cool joke I read somewhere...)**

* * *

><p>"You pathetic excuse for a human being! You blithering idi-" Aron's tirade was stopped when Isrea ran up behind him and covered his mouth, pulling him away. Aron's fists were still flailing in Lucas' general direction, who was rubbing his jaw.<p>

"You have to believe me, there wasn't anything I could do!" Lucas mumbled

"LET GO OF ME!" Isrea was flung away. "Tell me the truth then, if you want me to forgive you...how the hell did such a good trainer, a freaking Pokemon Champion, allow one boy to die? One boy! And you couldn't do anything about it?" Aron's voice had taken on a menacing tone to it.

"You want the truth? You want the TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

"You want the truth? Fine... I'll tell you, but only you and your friend. Her family can't know. The less people who know, the better...come inside...I was going to tell Rowan the story as well."

He walked into the lab without glancing back to see whether Aron or Isrea followed him in. Isrea started walking in without hesitation, while Aron hung back. Finally, he shrugged and stalked into the lab after Isrea.

* * *

><p>Steven really didn't really want to hear his best friend yelling at Lucas. It really wasn't his fault Team Galactic had attacked Arceus.<p>

When Lucas decided to tell his story, Steven relaxed, as he didn't need to listen to more shouting. However, he then realised that he would have to listen to Lucas tell the story about how he died.

"_How morbid..."_

* * *

><p>"You really thought telling me your life story would redeem yourself?" Sharon asked, after Sonya had finished her story. Sonya blinked. She hadn't really expected such a fierce response from the girl.<p>

"Huh?"

"You destroy the life of a child, and mess with the minds of a pokemon for 'Science'" Sonya noticed that the girl, Sharon or something, managed to actually say the quotation marks she had put up around 'science', "and think that just telling me about what you did would redeem yourself? Are you really that shallow?"

* * *

><p>"<em>...No? What? Why is my skin orange?" Alexa yelled. Her skin had taken on an orangish sheen to it, a bit like a severe sunburn viewed through yellow-tinted lenses.<em>

"_Are you talking to yourself? Cause I sure hope you aren't talking to me...I've got no clue..." Firael sat down against a tree and watched with amusement as her...other personality? Inspected her entire body, trying to find any skin that was its original pale cream colour._

"_Isn't it obvious? Hey Firael, long time no see!" Alexa looked up to see a blue charmander walking towards them, while Firael rolled her eyes._

"_Not you again..."_

* * *

><p>"...so when I saw him, Arceus and I teleported away to Mew's island, before he teleported me back to Twinleaf town. After 4 days there, I flew here to tell Rowan about Arceus when..."<p>

"When that boy punched you for being such a numbnut. Lucas, did you really think that Steven wasn't in any danger when you were summoning the pokemon god? You still haven't really grown up yet, have you? That was immature of you. Why did you take him with you anyway?" Rowan cut in, shaking his head.

"Well...he said that no one wanted to cross Mount Coronet because it's winter now, and he had been trying to find an escort for several days...I felt sorry for him, and I guess I wanted someone to talk to on the journey..." Lucas' voice petered off.

"Well...I guess your information has been useful, but the sacrifice that you ultimately ended up making to gather this infomation makes me wonder...was it worth it?_"_

"I...I don't know."

* * *

><p>After hearing Lucas' story, Aron had nearly forgiven Lucas, seeing as there wasn't much one could do to stop an attack by the strongest pokemon in the universe. However, he was still fuming at the reason why Steven was at the Hall of Origin in the first place.<p>

Anyway, he'd kept the master ball that had been given to him, seeing as it was the last pokeball type he needed for his collection.

* * *

><p><em>...In Floaroma town, outside Aron's house...<em>

The postman drove up to Aron's house. Going to the back door of his van, he unloaded a small package and left it by the door, before driving off to finish his round.

On top of the package lay an envelope, with an embossed letterhead.

_Messrs Axel & Co. _

_`~ sum verendus, pecuniam taum ad me.:~`_

_Est. 1923._

_46 Regent Street, Hearthome City,_

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh, bugger. Alexa, meet my imagination...I think I've mentioned him to you once or twice..." Firael sighed.<em>

"_Well, actually, I'm your subconscious, but while you were sleepybye I was pretty much your imagination. Pleased ta metcha." The blue charmander was now using both claws to shake hands with Alexa._

"_Ok, seeing as you said you knew what was happening to me, would you care to tell us?" Alexa asked, once she had wrenched her hand from the charmander's grasp._

"_It's quite simple. Two individual personalities cannot exist in a pokemon's mind, so we don't suffer from split personality issues, not literally anyway. If a pokemon's personality is naturally like that...look, basically, two different people can't exist in the same mind, if it's a pokemon's one. So obviously, your minds are joining! You're slowly becoming Firaexa or something..."_

"_Firaexa?" Firael asked while a column of smoke emerged from her nostrils._

"_Well, I just joined your names together. But think about it this way, Firael, would you ever shake hands with a human? No? Then why did I just do that? I'm the combination of both of your subconscious minds, and trust me, your personalities are going to join up together, whether you like it or not-hgbblifph!"_

* * *

><p>Saturn was lounging in his office. He hadn't really had much to occupy himself with other than that pokemon, and whatever Team Rocket were currently doing. His phone rang.<p>

"Hello?"

"Sir, it's Pluto."

"_Speak of the devil."_ "Yes? What is it? You know what projects Team Rocket are working on?"

"Not really. Giovanni is the only person who knows what everyone in Team Rocket are working on. I only know of one of them." Saturn resisted the urge to hit something.

"Ok. What is it?"

"Mind transfer, sir. They had captured a human and tried to transfer her consciousness into that of a charmander. They are trying to see if the transplant is successful."

"Hmm..."

Saturn had an epiphany.

"Get that charmander. If that project even looks slightly optimistic, then get that charmander. Get the head researcher as well. This could be one of the most important pieces of information in the world. Find that charmander, and get it. Find that researcher, and get him or her."

"Got it, sir."

Saturn hung up, feeling elated. Finally, he had a way to achieve perfection! All he had to do was capture the strongest pokemon in the world and merge his mind with its mind. If he got that researcher and charmander, he would have the technology. As for the pokemon...

"_That pokemon..."_

* * *

><p>"I..." Sonya didn't know what to say. Was she really that naive? To think that dumping her troubles upon another person's shoulders was...stupid.<p>

"_Just how many stupid decisions have I made? The least I could do..."_

"_What IS the least I could do?"_

* * *

><p>As the former scientist sat in the lounge of the airport, Sharon got up, and with Axew, left for Sinnoh.<p>

Aron and Isrea's family travelled back to Floaroma town in silence. Aron was by now quite sure that Steven was dead, and didn't want to speak to anyone whilst Isrea wasn't sure what to think.

"_Still, to think that Steven got to meet the God Pokemon..."_ she thought slightly enviously.

* * *

><p>Lucas had finished telling Professor Rowan about his journey to find the plates, and walked out of the lab. He headed towards the nearby forest, and let out all the pokemon he had with him.<p>

"Well guys, where to now?"

The seven of them sat there, staring at each other. There wasn't anywhere or anything that Lucas wanted to do.

Not after that day in Spear Pillar.

* * *

><p>Rowan watched Lucas walk to the edge of the forest. Two hours later, Lucas and his team hadn't budged.<p>

"_I need to give the boy something to do. He's distraught."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Sooo...you're saying that our minds are joining? I'm going to become a half Firael half Alexa person?" Alexa asked, after she managed to stop Firael from strangling her-, their subconscious.<em>

"_I guess there isn't any out of this..." Firael sighed. She could feel herself waking..._

Firael woke up, having woken up by a stick prodding her in the ribs. Some food was shoved in. Without hesitation, Firael picked up the plate of Pokefood and ate it as quickly as she could.

* * *

><p>Giovanni called Nix into his room and handed her the report. "Nix, read this. You wanted to know what this was about, and you've got my permission to know. Also, contact Canalave headquarters and ask for another report. You are dismissed."<p>

"Sir."

Pluto walked out of the room.

"_Now for the next step of my plan."_

* * *

><p>"Lucas!" Lucas turned towards the source of the voice. Professor Rowan was walking towards him. "You said that Arceus teleported you to Faraway island?"<p>

"Yes..." Lucas mumbled.

"Then can you try and find it again? Your pokedex can give you a rough location and you can then navigate there using traditional methods, so we can find its location. Who knows, you might be able to meet Mew."

Lucas thought about it. It was something to do, and it would probably take a long time and didn't seem to involve a lot of battling, which he didn't want to do.

"Yeah, ok. I'll go to Faraway island. You coming, guys?" His pokemon all nodded.

* * *

><p>As Aron got home, he noticed a small package on his doorstep with an envelope on top. He picked up the package and envelope, walked in and placed the package on the dining table. Letting Scout, who seemed to be sleeping, out onto the couch, he ripped open the envelope.<p>

* * *

><p><em>To Mr. A. Silpha,<em>

_It is with regret that we must inform you of the death of Steven Borell. Within his will, he testified that all items left to him by his mother are to pass into your possession. The only items passed down were a gemstone and a sum of money totalling Seven Hundred And Fifty Hundred Thousand Dollars ONLY. As you already have arrangements in place for such an occurrence, we have deposited the money into your Futures Trust, and your allowance will be increased to Ten Thousand Four Hundred And Thirty Seven Dollars ONLY per month._

_The gemstone can be found enclosed within._

_Yours truly,_

_Messrs. Axel and Co._

_46 Regent Street, Hearthome City,_

_Sinnoh_

So it was true. Steven was dead.

Gone. The last nail in the coffin.

* * *

><p>Isrea was lounging in her living room when she heard her phone ring.<p>

"Isrea? It's Aron. Steven's dead. He's just left all his stuff to me, and I've got it."

Isrea slowly put the phone down. Before, she still hadn't been sure if Steven was dead, but this confirmed it. Before she fully placed the phone down, she lifted it up again.

"I'm coming over. We need to talk."

* * *

><p>Vila watched the footage of subject 24 eating. Turning to face the psychiatrist, she frowned.<p>

"Looks like subject 24 is just another pokemon."

"Hmm...I still don't know...she just seemed to have a human reaction when first confronted with the mirror. This experiment, if it is a failure, isn't a complete one. I just think that the subject might be trying to confuse us, but it seems so real..."

"Well, I've sent off our latest report, with your 'theories' enclosed inside." With that Vila stalked off, shaking her head.

* * *

><p>Pluto received the latest report and read it. With a snort, she pulled out a lighter and set fire to it. She then dumped it in the sink (she would clean up later) and walked out of her apartment, with an envelope under her arm.<p>

* * *

><p>Steven was woken up by Isrea entering the house. Once Isrea saw him, she said to Aron, "Oh! You haven't seen my starter yet! Here, I'll let her out to meet you. His name's Vendel."<p>

With that, she pulled out her pokeball and released her pokemon.

He closely resembled a baby penguin, with two button-like white circles on his chest and a tuft of blue cape-like feathers around the back. As he raised his blue-white head to get look at his new surroundings, Isrea was still telling Aron about her starter.

"...basically, he's a piplup! I picked him because he was sooo cute!" Steven mentally cocked an eyebrow at her exclamation.

"_She picked Vendel because he was cute? Really?"_

"Hey...you don't look like a pokemon I know..." Steven was jerked out of his reverie by Vendel, who had noticed Steven lazing on the couch.

"Oh, I'm a taillow, but I my colouring is really different. I'll tell you about it sometime..." Steven had resolved to tell Vendel the truth, seeing as they were going to be travelling together for some time. As for Rush...well, he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Rush...

"Oh...sorry I asked...if you don't want me to know..." Vendel started to walk away, head drooping. Steven cocked his head slightly, surprised at the sudden display of defeatism.

"_This dude is really sensitive..."_

With that he glided down and bundled into the blue penguin.

"Cmon! I didn't mean to upset you! It's just a long story, and Isrea doesn't look as though she'll be staying long...you alright?"

"Yeah...so I didn't say anything wrong?"

"What? No! Of course not...look, I'll race you to the kitchen...what d'you like eating?" Steven flapped his wings once to gain height before gliding a short distance, before using his legs to jump, flap and glide again. He couldn't fly, but 'wing-dashing' as he thought of it, was way faster than running.

Looking back, he saw Vendel running towards him. He chuckled at the sight. Penguins weren't built for speed outside of water.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

* * *

><p>Giovanni looked up. "Ah...Nix. I see you have the latest report?"<p>

"Yes, sir."

"Fine. You are dismissed."

Pluto walked out of Giovanni's room, but instead of heading back to her office, she had decided to just wait outside Giovanni's door.

At first, nothing happened, but then she heard some heavy breathing coming from inside. Then she heard two fists being slammed into the table bef-

"Hey! You there! What are you doing there?" Pluto jumped, not expecting anyone to sneak up behind her. Turning around, she saw that the person confronting her was one of the other Captains at Team Rocket, Captain Sinther. A well-built man, he was one of the few of Team Rocket's members to still doubt her loyalty to Team Rocket.

"Oh, Captain Sinther? I'm just waiting outside here, as I'm about to get calle-"

"NIX! GET IN HERE!"

"As I was saying..." Pluto smirked as she brushed past the other captain into Giovanni's room.

* * *

><p>Steven had finally gotten to play with someone his 'age', and spent about half an hour knocking a Soccer ball around. It was a lot harder than it looked, as Steven had no legs to speak of, and Vendel wasn't too fast. Their goal was to get the ball from the center of the kitchen to one of the walls. It mostly consisted of Vendel dribbling and pushing the ball while Steven caught up to him and intercepted the ball, before trying to wing-dash with it away to his side of the kitchen. However, with the ball, Steven was much slower, and so both pokemon remained scoreless until Vendel had gotten some momentum on the soccer ball because Steven had tripped over, and as Steven managed to get between the ball and the kitchen wall, Vendel gave the ball one last heave with his flippers.<p>

"Wraalgh!"

* * *

><p>A few hours after being fed, Firael saw a lab coat heading towards her. Curious she walked to the bars of her cage.<p>

She received a tranquilizer dart for her efforts. Instinctively, she breathed out some smoke at the hand, and was glad that the hand was withdrawn quickly. She saw the lab coat move back and wait. Firael couldn't do anything but wait as well.

In 3 minutes, Firael couldn't stand any more. She collasped to the floor of her cage, putting one hand up to hold herself up. She could feel her arms weakening as well.

A minute later, she fell, unable to use her arms.

* * *

><p>Palkia and Celebi (as Axew) landed in Canalave city, and the first thing they both noticed was the smell. Sinnoh smelt different from Unova. It was something in the air, a sense of familiarity that Palkia couldn't quite grasp.<p>

Celebi, being carried in Palkia's arms through customs, asked her,

"You still don't know where to go?"

Palkia looked down and replied, "Nope...but we'll definitely stay here for a bit, maybe check out Iron Island or something..."

Celebi grunted.

"You suck. You get make all the decisions, but you can't even make one!"

"Hey! It's nearly midnight, ok? I'm not really thinking straight right now..."

* * *

><p>The ball plowed straight into Steven, and spreadeagled on the ball, Steven found himself approaching the ground tail first.<p>

"Wraalgh!" He yelled, as the ball rolled over him, and bounced off the wall of the kitchen. Steven vaguely registered the sound of Isrea laughing at him.

"Ha! I score! One nil! Err ...You Ok? I hope I haven't done anything wro-"

"Why you little..." Steven said as he got up, and pounced on top of Vendel

"Unhagh! Not fair!" Vendel yelled as the both of them were knocked onto the ground. Their playful wrestling was halted by Isrea, who pushed them apart.

"Vendel, we've got to go. I have to go and send my family off at Canalave's airport. They're flying away tonight."

"Aww...See ya then..." Vendel said.

"It's been great! See you soon!" Steven replied, waving a jet black wing in response.

* * *

><p>Aron and Isrea were discussing whether they would keep their pokemon in their balls but were distracted by sounds coming from the kitchen. Peeking inside, they saw Scout and Vendel going hammer and tongs at a soccer ball.<p>

"Well, it's nice to see our pokemon are having fun with each othe-"

"TAILGBLAH!"

"What was that?" Isrea asked. As got to the kitchen, they were just in time to see Scout come out the rear end of a rampaging soccer ball. Isrea couldn't help but start laughing, and Aron couldn't stifle a smile as he saw his friend struggle to get up, then pounce on Vendel.

Eventually, Isrea had to break it up as she had to go home. Waving goodbye, Aron and Scout watched Isrea, holding Vendel in her arms, jog back home.

* * *

><p>"The nerve...they ask for extra funding twice, then force me to wait 8 bloody months, and now they're asking me to give them MORE money and MORE time because the first experiment failed?" Giovanni hadn't taken the latest report that Pluto had fabricated that well and was shaking with rage.<p>

"Sir?" Inwardly, Pluto was jumping for joy. Not that she ever jumped for joy, but that she just felt really happy. Pluto would never jump for joy.

"_He's proving easier to manipulate than I thought."_

"I don't know. This project seems to have potential if they do get it to work...With this technology I coul-"

"But sir, they don't have the technology. How much time, effort, money and people have you put into this? How much more are you willing to waste? There are better pickings out there for us. Just let the charmander go."

Giovanni considered Nix's words.

"Very well. Order them to dispose of the subject, and report back to me. Leave a skeleton crew of 5 members to keep the base running. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Vila walked into the main operations room to receive the call from Captain Nix.<p>

1 minute later, she walked out.

* * *

><p>Firael could dimly feel herself get carried through countless corridors on a trolley. She never remembered blacking out, but further thoughts were stopped when she was wheeled into a room. The harsh lighting hurt her eyes, and a pounding headache formed over her light-headedness, which didn't really help her thought processes.<p>

The lab coat bent over her and said, "Hello! I'm Nikalus Parsner! Nice to meet you!" and held out his hand.

Firael shook it.

* * *

><p>Isrea arrived home to see her entire family pile into the minibus again. Sighing, she jumped in after them for the ride to Canalave. Grabbing a whole seat for her self with the excuse that Vendel counted as another person, she managed to lie down and get some sleep, cuddling Vendel to her body.<p>

Isrea's father got to the wheel. Tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>"So...you <em>are<em> human..." The lab coat, who was smiling, said. Firael's eyes widened...

"_What have I done?"_

* * *

><p>Saturn received the call from Pluto, and ordered the team he had already stationed in Canalave to spring into action.<p>

* * *

><p>Vila burst into the room that psychiatrist was in. "Nikolai! We've been shut down. We're letting the subject go and leaving. Give her to me."<p>

* * *

><p>Aron opened his package. Inside lay a small purple crystalline stone about the size of his fist. He stared at it and put it on the bench top, where Scout hopped down to observe it.<p>

Then the two of them settled down for a quiet night's sleep.

For Scout anyway.

* * *

><p>Steven looked at the stone. Aron seemed to think that it was only a purple crystal, but he thought he sensed something inside...something...dormant.<p>

"_Ahh...what the hell...I'm just gonna go to sleep now..."_

He hopped onto Aron's arm, and climbed up to his shoulder as Aron headed up to his bedroom.

* * *

><p>Nikolai couldn't believe it. "W-What? I've just proved that the charmander is human! We can't go now!"<p>

Vila was having none of it. "I don't care. This was a useless experiment, and I'm not listening to any more of your crackpot theories on thought! Give. Her. To. Me. Now."

* * *

><p>Firael's world was a blur of colours as she felt herself being carried under someone's arm. The tranquiliser hadn't worn off yet, and she didn't really realise she had been thrown out until she smelt grass. Feeling a little better, she groggily got up and started heading away from the base, into the night.<p>

* * *

><p>It was about midnight when Isrea's family backed into their parking spot in the airport. The whole family got out and started heading towards the airport to send each other off.<p>

* * *

><p>Nogen, the leader of the grunts assigned to capture the charmander, reported back to Saturn.<p>

"Sir. The target was released before we got there. We have tracks and are following them as we speak."

* * *

><p>"Damn it!" Saturn hadn't expected Team Rocket to act so quickly. His team hadn't gotten enough time to get to the Canalave base before that blasted charmander was released.<p>

* * *

><p>Firael was feeling a little better, but a sound caused her to look behind her. She didn't like what she saw.<p>

5 humans were running after her.

Firael started running too. This time, she headed towards the noise that signified Canalave airport.

"_If I can get to the city...I'll have more places to hide..."_

* * *

><p>Making their way out of the airport, and passing a particularly large family on the way, Palkia and Celebi stepped out into the carpark of the airport.<p>

* * *

><p>Nogen noticed the charmander start running.<p>

"Target has seen us. Abandoning stealth."

His team doubled their pace.

* * *

><p>Firael was puffing furiously. Even though she used to be fit, 8 months of forced sedation had done nothing to help her stamina.<p>

Gasping for breath, she stumbled into the carpark of Canalave airport.

"_Too...tired...must find place to...rest..."_

She nearly ran headfirst into a girl with an Axew. "Excuse me." She mumbled as she ran past.

* * *

><p>Palkia hadn't expected a charmander to nearly crash into her, but what surprised her more was what the charmander had said. She looked at Celebi.<p>

"Excuse me? Pokemon don't usually say that..."

She then saw the grunts chasing after the charmander. Deciding that whatever that charmander was running away from had to be bad, she immediately started screaming.

"Eeeahh! Some wild charmander tried to eat me! Eeeahh!"

* * *

><p>Nogen had lost sight of the target, but found a girl who had obviously seen her.<p>

"Where is the charmander?"

"Huh? It-it's ov-ver the forest there..." The girl gestured vaguely before fainting. Her pokemon, who Nogen didn't recognise, seemed to look at his trainer with disgust. It pointed in the same direction. "Axe. Axe axew..."

Nogen's team ran off where the girl and her pokemon had pointed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Isrea had sent off her foreign relatives, and were heading back to their minibus. Isrea was so sleepy she didn't notice the girl lying on the ground fifty metres away from her.<p>

* * *

><p>Firael was gone. Out of gas. She leaned against one of the largest car-thingy-<p>

"_That's a minibus, Firael, not a car-thingy...can I take over now?" _came Alexa's voice.

"_Whatever, yeah...you have a go."_

* * *

><p>The first thing Alexa noticed was how tired she felt. She'd just been hit with a sledgehammer. Doubling over even further, she continued wheezing as she tried to think of a way out. There was no way she was going to be able to run, and she needed a place to hide.<p>

"_Hmm...Firael, can you melt through metal?"_

"_Nearly... I can heat metal, but not melt through it, but I can make it soft enough to bend."_

"_Perfect."_ Alexa rubbed her claws together, and blew a stream of fire straight into the back of the minibus, until it glowed red hot. Then she punched through the molten metal quickly, so as to not burn herself, and repeated it several times until she had a hole large enough to crawl in.

Then, as quickly as possible, she scampered in through the hole.

"_Ow! Gods I'm exhausted...that fire breathing is tiring!"_

"_Because fire-breathing is totally a walk in the park...at least we have a decent hiding place. Now, if I were me, then I'd go to sleep...oh wait, I am me! Alexa...just go to sleep. We both need it."_

* * *

><p>Isrea and her parents walked towards their minibus. Her parents got into the driver's and co-driver's seat as Isrea piled into the front passenger seat, too tired to move further into the back.<p>

Having reverse-parked, all Isrea's mother had to do was drive out of her spot. As Isrea's mother drove home, Isrea fell asleep, thinking about all the cool things she could do with Vendel tomorrow.

"_I get to do some training tomorrow...I wonder what I'll do first?"_

* * *

><p><em>Aron looked around him. He was in that field again. He groaned. "Not this dream again...at least there aren't any beedrill this time round..."<em>

* * *

><p>Celebi stood over her fallen trainer.<p>

"Palkia? That was overkill...and you know it."

Palkia got up and grinned at her diminutive Tusk Pokemon.

"Really? I thought I was perfect." To prove a point, she twirled her hair. Celebi rolled his eyes. "Let's find somewhere to sleep."

"Yeah, before you faint again. Unnh!" Celebi mimicked his trainer.

* * *

><p><strong>To CrazyJosie and Ryu Dragonclaw: Yep. Lucas got Falcon PAWNCH'd<strong>

**Tsaukpaetra: Fine...you guys can get pity points.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: I finally got to meet another pokemon!<strong>

**Rush:#$^#$%&^$%^*&!**

**Steven: Oops.**

**Alexa/Firael: Shut up. I'm trying to sleep here!**


	13. Gathering

**On a scale of 1 to Skyline, I feel like I'd rank myself on about an 8 for my stupidity. Google Docs instant saves any changes you make, so when you accidentally copy and paste the wrong stuff over a third of your chapter, save and then quit Google Docs, you gotta feel pretty stupid.**

**On the other hand, you get another battle! But it won't be as involved, and there will be more trainer interaction because it isn't between two really good trainers, just two trainers who've started to strategize.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skyline. Phew.**

* * *

><p>Steven slept well. Nearly.<p>

"_If only Aron would stop moving around like this!"_

* * *

><p>Saturn wished he was sleeping, but was busy speaking to the nitwit on the other side. How the hell did a 'crack recon' squad of 6 people manage to lose one charmander, in territory it was probably unfamiliar with and with it in a weakened state?<p>

"...and it was due to this and some bad luck that we were defeated by a cunning adversary." _"Did he just say cunning? These guys are jokes!" _Saturn thought.

"I do hope you are joking, because I really hope I haven't heard you call a lone, disorientated charmander a cunning adversary. You worthless bunch of farfetch'd! Your entire team are demoted to the rank of Grunt. I have other things to do instead of listening to your voice rattling on in my head, like sleeping, or cleaning the freaking mess you've made!" Slamming down the phone, he stalked back towards his bed and got in, trying to snatch whatever sleep he could get before the next day.

* * *

><p>Isrea and Vendel slept well, and as such were oblivious of the photographs being taken of the two of them by her father, who had noticed that Vendel had wriggled out of his daughter's grasp and was now sleeping on her head.<p>

"_How cute...I've got to make the best of my opportunities...while I can."_

"_Well, what now?" Firael asked Alexa, "We've probably still got those nitwits on our tails, and we can't really hide on our own forever."_

_Alexa frowned. "Why don't we allow ourselves to get caught? They're looking for a wild charmander, not a trained one. Also if we evolve, then it'll be even harder for them to find us."_

"_Hmm...I guess it's a good idea. Training was fun when I was with..." Firael trailed off._

_Alexa hadn't realised that Firael had been trained previously. However, it did explain the strength of her flamethrower._

* * *

><p><em>Having found himself in his previous dream, Aron decided that he might still find the man and woman at the site where the beedrill had attacked. As he walked towards his destination, he pondered on the reality of his 'dream'<em>

_His problem was that he didn't know anything about what the world was like before the invention of pokeballs. He'd just assumed that humans still trained pokemon, but those pokemon travelled with them all the time, and each person would almost certainly be limited to at most, three pokemon._

_However, this reality was different. Humans lived in fear of most pokemon. How had he known that? Dreams were still based on previous knowledge or the imagination, but if that was so, why didn't he imagine the past where humans still trained pokemon? Why did he imagine...this?_

_He could only think of two explanations._

_Firstly, this could be his imagination, and for some reason he had imagined a completely different past to the one that he normally envisioned._

_The second explanation, the more unlikely one..._

_This was not a dream. _

_This was real._

* * *

><p>Sonya Tanem didn't sleep. She couldn't.<p>

How could she?

* * *

><p>Giovanni rose early. He sent a message to Captain Nix.<p>

"_Captain Nix,_

_The team who worked on Subject 24 arrive today for debriefing. You are required to be there, as a second opinion may be apprieciated._

_Meeting is at 1600 in conference room 4C._

_Aurum est potestas,_

_Giovanni."_

* * *

><p><em>Aron had reached the spot where the man and woman stood, staring at a patch of empty air.<em>

"_Where did he go? He was there one second, and once I mentioned Jubilife Village, he vanished!" The woman was freaking out._

_Aron felt he'd better explain himself._

"_Err..."_

_The man noticed him first. "You! How did you end up there? Can you teleport?"_

"_Okay...this might take some explaining..."_

* * *

><p><em>At Sunyshore City...<em>

Steven's mother lay in bed, softly giggling. There were generally two beds to a room at the Sunyshore Facility for Mental Illnesses, but no one could sleep next to her due to her sporadic fits of paranoia and/or crazed laughter.

She didn't notice as the thin and pale body of a young girl was bought in and laid to rest on her neighbouring bed. Didn't notice how the girl seemed to be dead.

Only the light breathing told anyone else otherwise.

* * *

><p>"Oh my god...I'm so tired...I hate jetlag so much." Palkia cried as she rubbed her eyes, stumbling into the motel with Celebi walking behind her.<p>

"Oh, quit your moaning! I'm just as tired as you are, and anyway, we can sleep for as long as we like once we get in!" Celebi ribbed his trainer.

"Yeah...sleep..."

* * *

><p>"<em>...and basically, I don't actually know whether you guys are real or not..." Aron finished his explaination.<em>

"_Of course we're real!" The woman exclaimed._

"_Well, you would say that, even if you were figments of my imagination..." Aron mumbled. Both of his listeners looked affronted at his comment._

"_Look, it doesn't really matter. By the way, I'm Davis Borell. I'm one of the few pokemon managers round here." The man replied, rubbing his growlithe's back. Aron jumped a little at the mention of 'Borell'. That was Steven's surname!_

"_I'm Janice Rumen. I'm a philosopher of the stars. I study them and make sense of their movements. Seeing as you may be visiting here often, do you want me to take you to Jubilife Village?"_

"_Yeah, why not?"_

Aron woke up.

Sitting up and squinting at the still-rising sun, Aron sat up, rubbing his head. Scout fell off his chest with a squawk.

"_Was it real? And why did I have to wake up? Ugh..."_

He threw off his blankets and was about to get some breakfast when he heard something.

"TAIL!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Not cool..."<em>

Steven had fallen off Aron when he had woken up, and wasn't too pleased about it. He stretched his wings out on Aron's bedsheets and yawned

"_Why did you have to wake up so early? I'm going back to sleep...Wragh!"_

Steven's world had turned white, and he felt himself being swallowed (**unintentional pun**) up by the ground, and thrown into the air whilst being buffeted on all sides by Aron's blankets.

"ARGH!"

* * *

><p>"Oh...sorry Scout. I forgot about you there for a little." Aron chuckled as he picked up his blankets, and Scout fell out and landed headfirst on his bed. Scout started waving his wings madly at him, obviously still mad at the rude awakening he had received.<p>

"Tail...taillow taillow!" Aron couldn't help but suppress a laugh at Scout's antics, and he picked him up as he headed down to the kitchen.

"Come, we'll have some breakfast and I'll go down and meet Isrea when she comes back from Canalave. I've got to ask her about these weird dreams I've had. I'd ask you, but...it'd be a little one-sided."

"Low...lowtail..." was all he got in response.

* * *

><p>"<em>Argh...that was harsh, Aron...if only you knew..." <em>Steven thought as he heard Aron's comments about his dream.

"Low...low blow..." he muttered.

* * *

><p>Isrea was woken up by her father poking her with his finger. The first thing she saw was a photograph of her curled up, with Vendel sleeping on her.<p>

"Aww...my own little girl...you look so cute!"

"Argh! Don't do that!" She shouted, Vendel falling off her into her fathers arms. Seeing the photo and his sleeping position on top of Isrea's head, Vendel laughed a little, making a short chirping sound. Isrea blushed a little.

"Anyway, we're here, and Aron's here to see you too, for some reason." As soon as Isrea's father had mentioned Aron, he stepped into the minibus and smirked when he saw Isrea.

"You have no idea how adorable you looked in that photo...all curled up vulpix-like..." He laughed even harder when Isrea's face turned a beetroot red.

"I'll vulpix your face off if you keep that photograph!" With that, she jumped out of her seat and grabbed at Aron.

"Hey! What did I say?" Aron yelled as he stumbled towards the back of the bus. Tripping over, he fell over and said something weird.

"CHAR!" Isrea didn't expect that. It didn't even sound like Aron's voice.

"Erm...Aron? Was that you? You sounded funny..."

"YEOW!" Aron leaped up.

* * *

><p>Pluto got up, brushed her teeth and upon checking her email whilst eating breakfast, came across Giovanni's message.<p>

She turned pale.

"_Crap. If I go, my cover is going to be blown. They'll find out I fabricated the last report. I'm bailing out. I need to call Saturn first though."_

* * *

><p>She gulped down the rest of her porridge and ran over to the phone.<p>

On the plane to Celedon City, Nikolai was still fuming. He had been so close to proving Sonya's experiment right. Speaking of which, where was she? Nikolai had really only joined the project to work with Sonya, but hadn't even seen her once over the course of the entire project.

"_Sonya...if only you could see your project now..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>If only I could see what happened to Alexa and that charmander..." <em>Sonya was in her bed. She didn't really have anything to do, and so was just lying in bed.

Suddenly, an epiphany.

"_I cannot help Alexa, or that charmander. For all I know, that process is irreversible. However, before I try and compensate myself for my past wrongdoings, I must find Alexa and that charmander, and apologise to them. If I am forgiven, then I can return to Unova in peace. If I am not..."_ She didn't want to think about it.

Getting out of bed, she gave herself 1 month to come up with some supplies and rest before setting out to find Alexa and the charmander.

* * *

><p>Firael and Alexa were sleeping peacefully, but were abruptly woken up by a heavy weight landing on their tail.<p>

"OW!" They both tried to scream at the same time, and did. Fortunately, the weight on their tail got off almost instantly.

"YEOW!" Firael and Alexa cringed at the sudden noise. In their head, Firael whispered to Alexa.

"_Hey, you wanna take control?"_

Alexa considered it. _"Yeah, I'll have a go. You pretty much hogged our body while we were in that lab, so yeah, I'll take our body today."_ Alexa felt Firael relinquish control over their body, and felt herself fully come into control.

"_Hey! I only hogged our body because I was more pokemonish! ARARARARRARAARRARA!"_

"_Err...is that even a word? Ow! Ok, ok, stop giving me a headache!" _ Alexa cluched her head, where Firael was bouncing everywhere shouting at the top of her voice.

"_You know what? You go and take control...see how you like your own headache!" _With that, Alexa rescinded control and pulled Firael forwards, whilst she receded into their brain and kicked her heels back.

_"Hey what? Ow...this headache hurts..."_ Firael clutched her head.

* * *

><p>Rynade was enjoying his sleep in, but was woken up by Saturn calling him.<p>

"Unnh!...Hello?"

"Where's the drawing? I asked for it yesterday!" Rynade's eyes boggled. He'd forgotten to send in his drawing.

"Uh...I'll send it in now sir. I'm sorry, I forg-" Rynade was left staring at the phone again.

"_Why do people always hang up on me?"_

* * *

><p>"What's a charmander doing in here? I landed on his bloody tail! Ow- Hey!" Aron shouted after getting up rubbing his bottom, before getting clawed in the leg by the charmander, who was previously holding her head.<p>

"Char...man!" The charmander folded her arms

"What? Oh...you're a she?" The charmander nodded her head. "Sorry...err...Isrea? D'you know why and how she got here?" Scout wormed his way out of Aron's jacket pocket and glided down to get a better look at the charmander, perching on one of the armrests of the seats in the minibus.

"Who are you?" Steven asked the red lizard that stood in front of him. The charmander squinted back, looking puzzled.

"I'm...she seemed to hesitate for a moment, before replying.

"_Oh crap...what do we call ourselves?" _Firael asked Alexa. _"D'you want to join our names? So Ariel? Or do you just want to keep Firael or Alexa? Or a new name? Quick! God that headache hurts.."_

Alexa didn't take long to respond. _"Look. Ultimately, I was dropped into your life. Keep your name. Let's call ourselves by your name. anyway, your name sounds cool."_

"_Of course my name's cool!"_

"...Firael. Hey, what's with your colouring? I've seen some taillow in Kanto, but they had dark blue and white wings, not black and light blue ones..."

* * *

><p>Saturn received a call soon after speaking to that captain...Rinade or something...<p>

"Hello?"

"Sir, it's Pluto. My cover's about to be blown. I fabricated some documents, and those changes are going to be exposed during a debreifing that I'm supposed to attend."

"Then get the hell out. We don't need you there anymore."

"With subtlety, or just as quickly as possible?"

"Get out as quickly as you can. Team Rocket is of no use to us, and you're too valuable to be languishing all the way in Hoenn."

"You mean Kanto, sir."

"Whatever, just get the hell out. Goodbye." Saturn hung up as one of his grunts entered with a large manilla envelope. Inside it would be a pencil drawing.

"_That pokemon..."_

* * *

><p>Rob Palmer smiled as he began his battle. His opponent was a wannabe steel pokemon trainer, trying to follow in Byron's footsteps. It didn't matter.<p>

Because Rob Palmer had the unbeatable strategy.

His team were unstoppable with it.

He was unbeatable, invincible, untouchable...

Perfect.

* * *

><p>Yawning, Palkia finally got out of bed. Realising it was nearly noon and neither she nor Celebi had had breakfast, she quickly shook Celebi awake.<p>

"Ugh...why so early? Go back to sleep..."

"Look, we've got to get up early, or we'll always wake up after lunch. Aren't you hungry?"

Celebi rubbed his head, saying, "You've got a point...I am hungry."

"Right then, let's see if we can find a cafe or something to get a bite."

* * *

><p>As expected of someone who exclusively trained steel pokemon, Rob's opponent lead with a skarmory. As usual, he led with his vaporeon, whilst putting the other balls he battled with on the ground in front of him, as he wasn't using all his pokemon in this battle, and didn't want his baby dratini accidentally called out by a Roar or Whirlwind.<p>

"Skiera! Do an Air cutter-slash combo, then follow with wing attack!" Rob smiled...

"Vaporeon...quick attack at the last moment to dodge away, then Substitute and baton pass." he whispered to his vaporeon.

Just as the skarmory seemed to come into contact with Vaporeon, she vanished. Skiera, surprised at her opponent's sudden disapperance, couldn't stop quickly enough and plowed into the ground, giving the slower vaporeon a chance to substitute before the vaporeon raised a glowing paw.

Rob had already released his next pokemon, a ninjask. Ninjask quickly flew over to Vaporeon, who touched his head with her glowing paw, before being recalled by Rob, as his opponent's skarmory finally clawed out of the soil, still slightly dazed.

Ninjask then immediately started dancing whilst behind the substitute, the red glow emnating from him turning the stone idol in front of him a blood red colour. "Ninjask! When that substitute looks like it's about to break, stop Swords dancing and use baton pass!"

"Skiera! Break down that substitute with repeated Air slashes!" the opponent's skarmory started frantically slashing at the stone idol whilst the red idol seemed to mock them as it took several heavy blows from Skiera. When it looked as though the red idol was about to break, Ninjask baton passed back to Vaporeon, before having her use aqua ring and baton pass as her substitute finally broke.

* * *

><p>Steven had decided to tell the truth about his colouring, but decided that now wasn't the time.<p>

"_Maybe when Vendel and even Rush are here as well ..."_

"It's a bit of a long story, but I was born like this. My name's Steven, but my trainer calls me Scout." As Steven said this, he realised that Vendel didn't know his true name and he hadn't even told Rush his name. _"Oops...I gotta tell them soon..."_ "How did you end up here?"

"Now that's a long story...maybe when you tell me about your colouring I'll tell you about my past. Deal?" She held out a claw, which Steven touched with a jet black wing.

* * *

><p>As the yellow mouse exited his pokeball and received the baton pass from Vaporeon, she said to him, "This is getting really old, you know...I haven't used an offensive attack since that night over a year ago..."<p>

Rai, sighed. "I know, he's even stopped calling everyone by their names, except me. Drats doesn't even have a proper name yet." Rob had by now recalled Vaporeon, and ordered a thunderbolt on skarmory. The attack struck true, the super-effective attack knocking skarmory to the ground.

* * *

><p>As she held out her claw to shake hands, Firael realised what she was doing. She'd never shaken hands (<strong>or claws...don't troll me<strong>) before the experiment.

"_Oh no, I'm acting more human...but I can't help-"_

Strangely, Steven took her claw and shook it as well. At least, he went through the motions and tried to. It's a little hard to grab a claw with a wing.

"_Huh? How did he know what to do?"_

* * *

><p>"Good work Rai! Thunderbolt again to put that skarmory out of her misery!" Rai instantly responded, sending another bolt of electricity into Skiera, who shuddered once as the electricity entered her body and lay still. His opponent's eyes were wide. "How...how did you get your raichu so fast?"<p>

Rob smirked. "Don't you know what the ability Ninjask has? Speed Boost allows Ninjask to get faster the longer he stays on the field. He baton passed those boosts to Rai over here. Face it, you've lost."

Rob's opponent's slow bronzor and weak magneton were both dispached in one go by Rai's swords danced and super effective (for magneton) Brick Break before they could even make a move, due to Rai's boosted speed.

His opponent's last pokemon, a lucario, wasn't so lucky. After being first hit with a Thundershock she managed to put up a fight, striking next with Extremespeed and following up with close combat. However, Rai recovered for long enough to use Thunder Wave.

"Good. Rai, move away from that lucario and nasty plot three times! Then use Thundershock!" His opponent's eyes widened. "Why...? Your raichu's Thundershock is powerful enough to KO my lucario, without the boost...so why Nasty Plot?" Rob just shrugged and watched as Rai sat down for several minutes, apparently deep in thought.

Rob watched as his opponent's lucario tried to crawl from Rai, but, crippled by the paralysis, could only make it a few meters and watch as the yellow rodent bore down upon her.

"THUNDERSHOCK!" He yelled, savouring the emphatic victory that he was about to achieve. The other trainer obviously knew what was about to happen as he shouted, "No! Lael!"

His raichu called down an almighty bolt from the heavens ("Raaiiii...") that struck the lucario ("CHUUU!"), who arched her back in pain before convulsing a few times and lying still, twiching a little.

* * *

><p>"THUNDERSHOCK!" Rai sighed as he heard the ubiquitous command being given out again. Facing the lucario, who was staring at him with fear in his eyes he said to her, under the pretense of charging up a thundershock, "I'm going...TO MISS!" and summoned the bolt into the ground directly in front of the lucario.<p>

* * *

><p>"TO MISS!" Palkia and Celebi both turned at the unexpected shout and ran to the source of the noise. They came to a battlefield in time to see the thundershock hit the lucario and it convulse painfully before fainting. Celebi stared at the raichu's trainer with a look of disgust on his face.<p>

"That bastard...that thundershock must have been boosted, and he did it just to cause that lucario pain..." Celebi would have gritted his teeth, but his tusks were kind of in the way.

The two of them ran over to help up the lucario.

* * *

><p>Deciding to go to the park so Scout and Vendel could get some exercise, Aron and Isrea bought some hot chocolate to ward off the winter chill and headed towards their destination. Aron noticed that the charmander was following them.<p>

"_Hmm...why is she following us? Maybe I can catch it?" _

"Isrea! Wait! Let me just go to the mart for a sec! Meetcha at the park!"

* * *

><p>"TO MISS!" Lael wasn't sure what the raichu meant when he'd shouted that at her, but when the fully accurate thundershock mostly missed her, she realised that he hadn't wanted to hit her, so she collasped to the ground and started convulsing, her spasms looking more realistic due to the fact that the part of the thundershock that did hit her still hurt like hell.<p>

"I'm sorry..." Was all she heard from the raichu before that annoying trainer started shouting and she momentarily blacked out.

* * *

><p>"Hey, it's Rush!" Steven cried when he saw the starly perching on the branchtops.<p>

"Hello, randomly-coloured-taillow-who-didn't-tell-me-his-name-the-last-time-we-met," The grey bird acknowledged him before turning to Vendel and Firael. "And who are those two? I know you're a piplup, seen you before, but I don't recognise dinolizard here."

"He-" Firael was cut off by Steven

"Yeah...sorry for not telling you last time, but I'm Steven, even though my trainer calles me Scout, Vendel's the piplup, and Firael's a charmander." "I've only met-"

"Hey! What'd you call-" Firael was inturrupted again.

"Ooh! A starly! You can be my second pokemon!" Isrea had seen Rush.

* * *

><p>Isrea was trying to drink her hot chocolate, but it was too hot still. Seeing as Aron was still at the pokemart for whatever he wanted, she decided to go to where Scout, Vendel and that charmander were.<p>

"_That charmander's a little scary...she scratched Aron just because he got her gender wrong...although if someone called me a boy I'd go pretty crazy too..."_

Then she saw the starly.

"Ooh! A starly! You can be my second pokemon!"

* * *

><p>"Yea Rai! We _ing did it! Me and Rai, all the _ing way!" Rob shouted. "Well, I'll be on my _ing way now, you guys have a nice _ing time!" he strode off.<p>

Celebi turned to Lael. "Woah Axew, what was with all the 'ing' noises that guy was making? "

* * *

><p>Lael's trainer jogged up to the girl who was helping Lael up. "Hey, thanks for that. That guy was an ass. D'yer notice he spoke real weird? Like with all blanks and 'ing' noises? Is he mentally unstable or what?"<p>

Palkia, who was listening to Celebi and Lael's conversation, jumped, startled at the sudden question. She decided to hazard an answer."Huh? Yes, it was, wasn't it? I'm Sharon, by the way."

"The name's Sean, and this here's Lael, who got pretty cleaned up by dat raichu."

* * *

><p>Of all the things Aron expected Isrea to be doing when he finally got to the park, it wasn't battling.<p>

"Vendel, use pound!"

"Isrea? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting myself a starly!"

"Star? Star star lee star!"

* * *

><p>"What? She just wanted to catch me? Why didn't she say so?" Rush shouted, fustrated by the fact that he'd been battling for no particular reason at all.<p>

"Well...she did say that she wanted you as a second pokemon..." Steven tried to facepalm, but had to do the best he could by slapping his beak with his wing.

"Shaddup! I'm just gonna end this, I actually want to go on a pokemon journey, but I've been too weak t'go north...I've been all around Sandgem and Twinleaf, but the pokemon elsewhere are all too powerful. Err...'ey! Vendel! Can you just stop a sec? I just need t'get myself caught." Vendel looked a little affronted at this, but settled it by cheering his first 'victory'.

"Yay! I won my first battle." Steven tried to facepalm again.

Behind Steven, Firael was watching.

* * *

><p>As Rai was carried back to the pokemon center for healing, along with the rest of Rob's team, Rai pondered how much his trainer had changed.<p>

"_I can't believe he still hadn't gotten over losing F- No! Focus on the now! Drats is getting more and more sad though, Rob isn't giving her enough care anymore. Everything's slowly getting worse..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, Alexa, did you notice what that taillow, err...Scout, did? First he knew how to shake hands, and did it so naturally, and then he did some weird action..."<em>

"_What? Facepalming? I've seen pokemon facepalm before..."_

"_How many birds have you seen try facepalming? Some pokemon learn the gesture after living with or near humans for a while, but birds? They HAVE no palms!"_

"_Oh...uh..."_

* * *

><p>Saturn inspected the drawing. <em>"That captain's a good artist. This pokemon...looks familiar..."<em>

"_One way or another...I'll get you..."_

* * *

><p><em>Inside Vaporeon's pokeball...<em>

_Vaporeon floated in her pool, silently fuming after yet another battle. "I have a name! I don't know how much longer he's going to be like this, but I can barely stand him anymore. It's not so hard for Rai, he's looked after well still, but everyone else...especially Drats...everyone else is getting neglected too much..."_

* * *

><p>"Vendel, why aren't you using pound?" Isrea asked. Her piplup had suddenly stopped talking and both him and the starly were looking at her, pointing at her belt. Aron decided to hazard a guess<p>

"Err...Isrea, I think that starly wants to get caught..."

"Oh! Ok then..." She pulled out one of her pokeballs and threw it at the starly.

The starly stared at the ball. Then back at her. "Star?"

Isrea was confused, before she realised that she had thrown Vendel's pokeball at the starly.

"_Wow...that was stupid." _

This time, the starly disappeared in a red beam of light. Immdiately realising him, Isrea crooned over her newest pokemon. "Yes! I got another pokemon! Now for a name...how abou-"

"STAR!" Came the frantic reply. Isrea and Aron both watched as the starly hopped over to an empty patch of dirt and scratched at it. Isrea went over to see what her starly had scratched.

"Rush? Is that your name?" Her starly nodded. "Cool! That's a great name."

* * *

><p>Rob walked towards the pokemon center, carrying Rai in his arms, he happily savoured his victory.<p>

"_Ha! I'm still unbeatable, even after I lost my first pokemon...my charmander."_

He clenched his fists.

"_One day, one day...I'll get you, Team Rocket."_

* * *

><p><strong>Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this one! The character of Rob is an OC of 'thewookie1' (one of three). Let me know what you think about his 'impediment'.<strong>

**Cyberfire22: I've only had one OC, and care to PM me with what you think that stone is?**

**thewookie1: Thanks for the OC, and question 2 was answered this chapter!**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Who's getting into a mess? Imho this whole plot is all over the place, but at least it makes sense, for now. I keep on just avoiding huge plot holes all over the place.**

**Aleron's Sword: Yes, I have. Nice to know someone else has too. Please stop writing new stories and concentrate on the 458 stories you currently have going SIMULTANEOUSLY. Seriously. It's had enough for me with one, and you're trying it with so many...**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: So...we meet at last...MUHAHAHAHAHA<strong>

**Alexa: What's with the movie-speak? Anyway, you haven't met me yet, just Firael**

**Steven: No! I have been decieved! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Alexa:...**

**Rush: He's having an off day.**


	14. True Flight

**From my point of view after having completed the fic, this is probably where the plot starts splitting apart like crazy. This does come back to bite me in the third quarter of the fic where nothing seems to happen because every storyline is being incremented so slowly.**

**It was at this point that I decided to give all legendaries a gender, because it felt really weird writing 'it' all the time. Also very impersonal. I do break this trend in the second last chapter, but that was due to the fact that I didn't want to assign genders to a few particular pokemon.**

**Disclaimer: N/A. I have nothing to not lay claim to. **

* * *

><p>"WHEE!"<p>

"Isrea, you all right? It's just that you don't seem to good there..." Aron said as Isrea hugged him again.

It had been 5 minutes since her capture of Rush, and Isrea hadn't managed to calm yet. She'd hugged him at least twenty times and cuddled all of the pokemon at least once all the while holding Rush's pokeball in the air. She even tried to hug a tree, before realising that Aron wasn't that hard and leafy. Below him, Scout turned towards Rush, Vendel and the mystery charmander.

He wasn't sure why the charmander was still following him.

* * *

><p>Steven turned towards his friends. "Anyone think that Isrea's overreacting?" Everyone nodded. Vendel decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for a while.<p>

"Hey, Scout or Steven...you know you never told me your name? Anyway, why do you have two names? You could easily do what Rush just did, you know...why don't you?"

Steven sighed. "It's got something to do with my past...I'd...rather not talk about it now. Soon, just...soon..."

Vendel wasn't going to give up that easily. "Your past? You don't have a past! Oh...sorry...did I say too much?"

"No. I do have a past." With that, Steven walked away, leaving Firael alone with Rush and-

"WHEE!" Isrea ran by and scooped both her pokemon up into her arms and took off with them, now going on a victory lap of the park.

Leaving Firael and Aron alone.

* * *

><p>"<em>Where is she?" <em>Giovanni thought as he paced around the conference room. The debriefing was supposed to begin 10 minutes ago, and he had already sent Captain Sinther over to Captain Nix's apartment.

"_There will be hell to pay..."_

"Sir? Do we start now?" One of the scientists, an old scientist that Giovanni recognised as Nikolai from the Mewtwo project, spoke up.

"_I don't need her here anyway...fine, we'll begin."_

"Fine, let us begin. Vila, if you would?" He gestured at the podium at the head of the mahogany table they were all seated at.

* * *

><p>"Soooo..." Aron tried to break the awkward silence that surfaced once Isrea's shouting drifted off. "Do you want to come with me? On my journey? I mean...I'm not a trainer yet, but I'm going to be one once I turn eleven in less than three months..."<p>

"Char!" Firael nodded her head.

"Ok...I don't know if you've heard of a Glass Ball before, "Aron pulled a one of them out of his pocket. He had gone to the mart to get 5 more Glass Balls, figuring that he would need them later. "These are the weakest type of pokeball. At anytime, you can break out of it, which basically means if you want to leave me, you can...I just don't really want my pokemon to be forced to follow me around if they don't want to...so, what do you say?"

"_Alexa! Oh my go- oh...you're awake. You wanna go with Aron? He seems like a good guy, and we're only going to be held in Glass Balls, so we can leave whenever we want." _Firael asked her alter-ego.

"_Yeah...why not? Anyway, that taillow's interesting..."_

Nodding her head, Firael reached out her claw and touched the glass ball offered to her.

* * *

><p>Saturn summoned her newest commander, who had replaced Mercury after his death. Titan strode in, the light glistening off his silver hair.<p>

Titan had been one of Saturn's most industrious and efficient Captains, and Saturn would have promoted him sooner, but for the fact that he already had 4 commanders, which he thought was probably the maximum number of commanders anyone could have. Titan was very young for a commander, just hitting thirty, and his albino hair only served to heighten the aura he had around him.

"Commander Titan." He said, stressing the first word.

"Sir?"

"Do you recognise this pokemon?" Saturn showed Titan the pencil drawing.

"No sir."

"Fine." Saturn put the pencil drawing away. "I was hoping you might know...but that is not why you are here." He handed Titan the copy of the report Pluto had mailed him from the Team Rocket headquarters.

"Find out who was the head scientist of this project. Get some hackers, catch some grunts, invade their headquarters...I don't care. Just get me a name. We need that scientist in our quest for perfection.

* * *

><p>Palkia accompanied Sean back to the pokemon center after helping Lael into her pokeball. Noticing that Rob was leaving, they entered the pokemon center and got Sean's pokemon healed.<p>

"Palkia, let me go too." Celebi asked her.

"Huh? Why do you want to go in? You aren't even injured..." Palkia responded,

"Well...I guess I wanted to see what it felt like...sorry..." Celebi dipped his head. Laughing, Palkia grabbed Celebi's black horn and heaved him up on the counter despite Celebi's protests, before asking the Nurse Joy to heal her pokemon.

"Hey, can you heal my Axew, even though he's perfectly all right and just wants to see how it feels?"

Nurse Joy gave Palkia an odd look. "Then put it in the ball? And for gods sake please don't say" She gave a huge smile and closed her eyes tightly, "'heal my pokemon please kthx bye!'" Resuming her original expression, she continued her rant. "These machines don't heal, they just charge them full of energy, like feeding them for two days and letting them rest! If they needed 'healing" She used her fingers to emphasise the word 'healing', "then we would still need splints and casts and bandages! People need to be taught this stuff at school more..."

* * *

><p>While Celebi was given a ride in Nurse Joy's machine, Sean pulled Palkia aside. "Say, you can speak to pokemon?"<p>

"Err...yeah? What, do you want me to come with you or something?" Palkia asked.

"Well...yeah. I've been losing most of my battles, and maybe my pokemon can help me get better. Of course, if you don't wanna come, then..." He trailed off.

"No! Of course I want to come! Consider it done! Oh yeah, I'm Sharon." At this, Nurse Joy gave them back their pokeballs.

Once outside, Palkia let Celebi out.

"That machine felt so good! It was like I got filled up with melted chocolate...that didn't make much sense, didn't it?"

Palkia leant down and rubbed Celebi's head. "I'm sure it did, I'm sure it did..."

Celebi growled at Lael, who was laughing at him... "Well...that's what it felt like!"

Lael only laughed harder.

* * *

><p>Lucas was at the same old house near Snowpoint City, visiting the hiker who had given him the ice plate. He didn't have any leads to Faraway island, and simply searching in all the maps that he could find proved to be fruitless. This was essentially his last lead.<p>

"Hello? Ah, you're that trainer who wanted my Ice Plate...sit down. I know what it is you seek, and I can tell you that I possess this knowledge." The hiker opened the door as Lucas was about to knock on it. Slightly startled by the fact that the hiker expected him, Lucas entered the hiker's house.

Walking over to his cabinet and retrieving a tattered scroll of parchment (**This would be another cliche, but it's in the pokemon games...so boohoo.**) "This contains the whereabouts of the land you seek. You look puzzled...hehe!" The hiker seemed to start laughing, but quickly stopped and gave Lucas the scroll.

"_That was close...but his face was sooo funny!"_

Upon being handed the scroll, Lucas carefully spread out the map of the world and the three landmasses it was divided into, with two of the landmasses sharing the top two-thirds of the map and the third taking up the southern third, all encompassed by huge oceans. He saw the regions of Sinnoh, Johto, Kanto (next to Johto and south of Sinnoh, seperated by the huge temperate Sujuki Forest) and Hoenn (on a large island southwest of Kanto) marked on the map in the Asjen continent, and several other locations like Unova in Aminca, Chicheblen in the southern continent, Antitica, and the amazingly densely populated Toroji region on an island between Unova and Sinnoh, completely surrounded by ocean. However, Lucas wondered where some of the smaller regions like Fiore, Szen, Orre, Almia and Janugi were.

"This map is very old, and most of the smaller regions hadn't been named or discovered yet. This map is over 2000 years old, but is the newest one that still contains the location of what you seek." The man pointed to a spot on the map, but instead of having pointed to a land mass, Lucas saw the man point at some calculations.

"Hey! I thought Faraway Island was near Hoenn!"

"It might be, but Faraway island always moves, hence its name. It will not be easy getting there. Mew likes to play many tricks, and this is only the second one she has played on you."

"_Second?"_

* * *

><p>Rob, feeling freshened and happy after his victory, quickly returned back to his room at the Pokemon Centre and let out his baby dratini, who was already as long as he was tall. Giving her a quick cuddle, he prepared some baby food for her hurriedly, and gave it to her.<p>

"_So innocent...just like Fir-...no! That charmander...she is behind me now! I destroyed her pokeball, and I decided then that I would carry on...but why do I keep on thinking about her?...I need to get some training done at Iron island... then I can challenge most of the gyms without having to stop...once I've finished, I'll no longer be the weak trainer that Team Rocket stole...Firael...off me..."_

"_**I will be faster.**__"_

"_**I will be smarter.**__"_

"_**I will be stronger.**__"_

"_And then...and then..."_

"_I will kill Giovanni."_

As he brooded, his baby dratini waited for him to return and call her back into her pokeball. When he didn't, she curled up on the cold, hard, floor and tried to go to sleep on the unforgiving surface.

* * *

><p>"And so, based on your evident lack of results, and your requests to start again, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk of trying again and finding out that our subject doesn't exhibit any human qualities at all."<p>

"Giovanni...we provided several possible indicators that showed that the subject might be human." Behind Nikolai, Vila rolled her eyes.

"Look Nikolai, he obviously doesn't care for your theories."

"You f-" Nikolai was cut off by Giovanni.

"What theories? I didn't read any theories."

"What? You..." Nikolai had stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. Pointing a quivering finger at Vila, he continued. "...LIAR! You didn't put my theories in, you bastard!"

"Nikolai..."

"No...I'm going to kill you! I'll beat you to death! With...with your own skull! You've ruined Sonya's project because of some petty jealousy! I'l-"

"She's resigned."

"I'l- what?"

"Sonya left Team Rocket several days ago after her half of the experiment was finished. Look Nikolai, I had every reason to send in those theories. This is as much my project as it is yours, why would I endanger it for a petty quabble? Were those reports delivered directly to you?" Vila asked Giovanni.

"Yes...by..." Giovanni turned pale. "_...her...Captain Nix."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Hmm...this is different from a pokeball..." Inside the Glass Ball, Firael found herself hovering in the middle of a huge transparent sphere, the outside of which was enclosed by Aron's hand. Imagining the interior of her previous pokeball a series of rolling hills appeared, with a trampoline and a-<em>

"_What's a...rollercoaster doing in here? And where did it come from? One moment I was like...floating and then..." Twisting around, Firael saw Alexa staring at her rollercoaster with a look of amazement on her face. Deciding to turn on gravity, the two of the fell onto the ground._

"_Look, inside a pok-" Firael had begun to explain the workings of a pokeball, but then she was called out again._

* * *

><p>Sonya realised that for all her good intentions, she didn't have enough money to go traipsing across Sinnoh. This could be easily resolved, but she would have to stay in Unova for some time on whatever job her contact could give her. She flipped open her phone.<p>

"...Hello? Ahh...Juniper? ...Unova...Mistralton City...yes, I left...ok, ok! You were right! You can crow all you like over me later! So you do have somewhere? With Plasma Enterprises? Ok, thanks for the job!"

"_Medicine development. Hell, at least it's better than what I was doing with Team Rocket. Juniper's going to tease me so much when I see her...she was smart enough to see what Team Rocket were doing and got out after 3 weeks...me? I was stupid."_

"_How did I not see?"_

Letting herself fall back down onto her hotel bed, she smiled. She knew what she wanted to do.

"_1. Get some money to do step 2._

_2. Find Alexa and apologise._

_3. Come back to this job._

_4. ? ? ?"_

* * *

><p>"Oh, so you caught that craz- that charmander?" Isrea had finally calmed down and let her pokemon down, before bending down to see what the charmaner was scratching on the ground. "F...ira...el? Firael? Is that her name?" Firael nodded happily, whilst Aron scratched his head.<p>

"You know, most pokemon don't give themselves names...say...Firael, Rush, have you been trained before?"

Rush shook his head, but Firael's face darkened as she nodded her head. Aron noticed her tail flame grow brighter and larger and quickly tried to calm down his new pokemon.

"Ahh! No! Nononononononono...I'm sorry I asked...I didn't know...Hey, where's Scout?"

* * *

><p>After having broken down Captain Nix's door (with no small amount of satisfaction), Captain Sinther walked into the abandoned apartment.<p>

The flat was a shambles. Drawers were scattered out on the floor, a plate lay smashed on the floor, paper lay everywhere, the lights were still on in the kitchen and all the clothes were gone from the wardrobe.

Except for the Team Rocket uniform.

All in all, the room looked like someone had left, very quickly.

"_Nix...!" _Captain Sinther picked up his phone to call Giovanni.

* * *

><p>"<em>There was so much I could have done...I could have become a pokemon trainer! I could have...<em>

_I could have..._

_But I would have died, wouldn't I? That plane would have killed me, so I guess it's kinda fair that I got killed as a human...Does that mean I'm destined to get killed again? What does Celebi have planned for me? But Arceus seemed pretty sure that he didn't want me to be used again..."_

"Oi! Steven! Fire Demon's- ARGH!" Rush was cut off by Firael torching him with a flamethrower, which Steven didn't notice.

"Hey! Steven! We've been looking for you! Firael's travelling with Aron and you now! Where were you?" Vendel took over, snapping Steven out of his reverie. Steven smiled.

"I was just here! I really just wanted...to get away from that crazy trainer of yours. Didn't you guys see her coming?"

Vendel didn't buy Steven's reason for abandoning them. He had seemed really despondent when he walked off on them. Rush, on the other hand, had bought Steven's excuse hook, line and sinker, seeing as he was distracted by trying to put out his smoking feathers.

"Hey, that's cool, but she wasn't gunning for ya during her rampage. You coulda seen what she did after she picked us up! Anyways, we gotta go now. Isrea's gotta go home, apparently SOMEBODY", he glared at Firael, who looked away nonchalantly, puffing some smoke out of her nostrils, "went and melted a hole through the back of the bus, so her parent's are looking at just buying the minibus to save themselves the hassle of fighting with the rental company or somethin...seeya!" Rush took off and landed on Isrea's head, with Vendel struggling to keep up.

* * *

><p><em>Arceus was in Limbo, surveying the ongoing situation in Unova with interest when he sensed a pokemon appear behind him. <em>

"_Arceus."_

"_**Celebi? I thought Mew transf- Which one are you? From the future or the past?"**_

"_The past. I'm just informing you that I've changed something in the past, for both your sake and that of the world's."_

"_**What did you do?"**_

"_Nothing much...I sped the Millennium comet up...just slightly..."_

"_**What? Why?" **__Celebi grinned and started to fade away. __**"You come here and tell me this instant! I command you!"**_

"_And? You're not my god...that's the Arceus from 1500 years ago. Anyway, it was only a little nudge...have a nice day!"_

* * *

><p>After all going around the back of Palkia's motel, Sean released the rest of his pokemon. His Bronzor, Magneton and Skarmory were all let out, next to Lael. Sean started speaking to them.<p>

"Guys, this is Sharon and her...what is that pokemon? I've never seen it before. Just wait a sec," He cut Palkia off from replying. "I jus' need to get this outta my system... Basically, we've been losing most of our battles recently, and I really think it's 'cause I'm doin' something wrong. Problem is, I dunno what we're doin' wrong...and Sharon can understand you guys, so shoot. If I really suck, then tell me I really suck." Breathing a sigh of relief, he stood back.

Palkia quickly intervened. "Oh...I'm Palkia and my Axew's called...Celebi", She stepped on Celebi's foot, causing him to yelp, as she knew he was about to complain about being given a name. "I named him after the Fairy Pokemon because he looks a little like him and well, celebi's cool, even though he looks spaced out all the time- hey!" Palkia glared at Celebi, who had just headbutted her.

Lael started speaking first. Well, I'm Lael, but you all already know that, the bronzor here is Zaroa, Skiera here is the skarmory and Ston here is the magneton." Each of the three other pokemon nodded at Celebi and Palkia, whilst Palkia translated for Sean.

Lael continued. "We've actually discussed this for a while, and basically we just reckon that you have too many steel types in your team. We're cannon fodder for Electric and Fire types, and to a certain extent, Ground types. We need pokemon who can cover our weaknesses, and we need to spend some time learning some extra moves. That's all I've got to say, really."

Ston the magneton spoke up in her robotic-sounding voice. "Mhmm...I am satisifed by your general evaluation of our trainer's weaknesses, and I have only one consideration to add. If it would please you, I would really like to learn magnet rise, to help me against ground types, but that is my only contribution."

Skiera decided to add her opinion. "I think you should try and think about letting me learn Spikes and Stealth Rock, seeing as I'm really more suited to defense, and these would help me defend and annoy the pokemon more."

Zaroa spoke, channeling her voice into Palkia and Celebi's mind for them to translate. "Have you considered running with Trick Room? With the exception of Lael here, most of us are on the slowish side, and it benifits me a lot. Even if you don't want to use Trick Room with Skiera and Ston, it's still a good move to consider, espically if your new pokemon are slow like me. I'm pretty powerful with Trick Room."

Sean paused as his pokemon's advice sunk in. "Wow, you guys have given this a lotta thought. Whatcha all sayin' makes sense, and I'll try an' help you learn those moves. I guess I need some non-steel pokemon too...Hey, Sharon? Thanks for doing this for us." His pokemon nodded their agreement.

* * *

><p>The next day at the park, Isrea and Aron had met up and were disscussing some stuff to do over the holidays, like going to visit Unova for a holiday together with Isrea's family, or just driving out of town for a few days, when Firael had to clear something out with Steven, Vendel and Rush.<p>

"_You wanna do this, Alexa?"_

"_Yeah, I haven't had much time in control anyway..."_

Taking control, Alexa strode over to her three friends and said, "Guys, I've got something to tell you. I've...for various reasons that I won't explain until Steven explains HIS colouring..." She glared at Steven, who shuffled his feathers awkwardly, "got an alter-ego. I used to be Alexa, but call me Firael anyway...erm...basically, we share the same body, so one of us is going to be 'out', and in control while the other one just kicks back for a while...it's a bit hard to explain, but that's about it."

Rush was the first to respond, by buffeting her head with his wing.

"Hey!" Alexa rubbed the back of her head.

"Yep...you're not Fire Demon, cause I was getting ready to hightail it outta here if you turned around and...you know..." He finished by gesturing with his wings, waving them around his head in an interpretation of Firael. Alexa couldn't help but laugh at the grey bird's antics. Firael wasn't laughing.

"_Hey! I'll get you Rush...How is this funny?"_

_"Because that's what you look like...hehehe!"_

* * *

><p>Two days later, Steven was standing at the top of the staircase in Aron's house. Jumping off with a flap of his wings, he gained some height.<p>

"_Ok...now for the hard part...just remember to balance everything."_

Flapping his wings and tail simultaneously, he felt himself rise a little. Still gliding down the stairs, he tried to constantly flap his wings, but even whilst he was going as fast as he could, he couldn't gain any height, but stayed in the same position.

"_Woah...that was so close...my wings probably still aren't strong enough...I'm still 5 days old so I guess that would make sense...this is really tiring though! I have to practice more..."_

* * *

><p>Five days after running from Celadon city, Pluto was in trouble. Team Rocket still had many contacts and they would have locked down the airport in Saffron City and the bullet train to Johto in Pewter City.<p>

Her only option was to try and reach Johto on foot. They would be less likely to search for her in Johto. She was nearing Veridian Forest, and then planned to hit the coast and follow it along across Johto until she hit Olivine city and sneak on a ship there. Team Galactic didn't have support for her, and so she had to make it out of this nightmare on her own steam.

It was going to be a long three months...

"_Argh! Why can't any of my pokemon fly! At least it'd be a little faster! I just had to be given some weaker pokemon so my cover would be __believable...just my luck."_

* * *

><p>Seven days after Captian Nix's abandonment, Giovanni was notified of her position. She had just been seen crossing through Veridian City, heading for Johto. After ordering a team of two grunts to follow her, he took the picture which she had provided and searched for hits on the criminal database that the Johto and Kanto police department held.<p>

The search turned up no results.

* * *

><p>Ten days after Steven first flew, he had strengthened his wing muscles and could fly for reasonably long periods of time. Showing off his new abilities to Vendel, who was impressed that Steven could fly, and Rush, who wasn't so impressed (<em>"I guess he can fly, so he wouldn't be a impressed as Vendel..."<em>), and Firael, who'd tried to set him on fire (_"Ahh! Jeez, why can't Alexa stay out more? It's always Firael that's out..." _), he landed on the top branch of a tree at the park that they were at to rest himself.

Rush landed beside him and started to preen himself. "You're getting pretty good at flying, but need to work on ya stamina."

Steven tilted his head sideways. "But how? Flying like this is so tiring...what about those pokemon who just fly using those big lazy flapping motions? Why can't I do that?"

Rush rolled his eyes, buffeting Steven's head. "That's because they're flying on the thermals. Thermals make life easier for you, and their wings are stronger."

Steven ruffled his wings, preparing to take off. "Well, I'm gonna try it anyway, so there!" He leaped off. Instead of frantically flapping his wings to stay up, he decided to throw his wings down as hard as he could, and then relax as they met under his body, slowly bringing them up through the middle of his body and stretching them out again, before repeating.

"_Flap! Relax...pull...stretch...Flap! Relax...pull...stretch...Flap!" _

Steven couldn't believe it. He wasn't flapping so hard he couldn't concentrate on his surroundings, and so he got a good look at the ground rushing beneath him as he sped along the grass. For the first time, he consciously felt the wind rushing past him, curving around his body as he sliced through the air, like a hot knife through butter.

He could move through the air at will, feeling its kinks and folds and adjusting accordingly.

"_Wow...this is true flying...I'm flying! I'm-strechstre-nononononono-FLAP FLAP! Argh!"_

'Thud.'

"Ow."

Firael had happened to be lying down where Steven had crashed. "You know, you had practically the whole park to fly in, and you manage to fly into my tree. Nice job."

"Ow."

Rush flew over, his eyes wide. "How-How did you do that! That was crazy flying! So natural...no bird our size can do that! That was- yargh!"

Firael had pounced on him and grabbed him in her arms. "He crashes into a tree and you're complementing him? What'll you do when he actually starts looking where he's flying, huh?"

"Ow."

"Nooo! LEMME GO!"

"Now...for my revenge...I saw your acting of me being angry, and I think you got some parts of your performance wrong...let me show you how to properly do it. " Firael had a sadistic grin on her face as she held the struggling starly to her chest.

"HELP! HELngh...No! Not the tickling!"

"Ow."

* * *

><p>Two weeks after receiving the old map from the hiker, Lucas had finished plotting out the place where faraway island should be by the time he reached there. He had bought a medium sized Poke-island (A poke-island was essentially a floating house of sorts. Lucas planned to surf for most of the day on his empoleon and then blow up the poke-island and spend the night in that, then fly on his skarmory the next day and between staraptor, empoleon and skarmory to keep his pokemon fresh.) and stocked it with a desalination kit, several cartons of dried biscuits and fruit, three super rods, some books (it could get very boring...), sunscreen, a pokenav, a compass (just in case), lots of clothing and 4 boxes of toothpaste.<p>

Most importantly, he had his towel.

He would leave in 3 weeks.

* * *

><p>Two weeks after Captain Nix had jumped ship, Giovanni was inturrupted from his work by a grunt.<p>

"Sir, we've found out who Captain Nix is! After searching through the Johto and Kanto bases thoroughly, we decided to check other regions. After taking a few days to hack into the police departments of the Sevii Islands and the Orange Archipelago, we then moved to Sinnoh, and found her listed as one of the commanders of Team Galactic as Commander Pluto."

"Dismissed. Send for Captain Sinther." The grunt left, and soon afterwards, Captain Sinther walked in.

"Sir?"

"Go to Team Galactic. Find out when Captain Nix, who we now know is Pluto will arrive at their headquarters, and subdue her. Also..."

"_Don't we have her number?"_

"Dismissed."

Giovanni picked up his phone again.

"...It's Giovanni. No...No...No!...Look, just let me speak! I need you to get a phone tap on this number...084 860 4852. Yes? Good."

"_I've got you where I want you...and when I get you..." _Giovanni cracked his knuckles. _"I'll find out why you wanted that charmander."_

* * *

><p>Have you ever attended your own funeral? One month after his death, Steven was about to watch his body get laid to rest. He wasn't really looking forwards to it.<p>

Alexa was 'out', and noticed that Steven seemed a little down. "Steven, you look torn...everything all right? If it's the funeral, you can just have Aron capture you."

Steven still wanted to watch his funeral. For him, it was something he absolutely had to sit through. "No. I'm fine. Really."

"Ok...if you say so." Alexa said as she was engulfed in a red beam of light. Hopping on Aron's shoulders, Steven was carried into the back yard of Aron's house, where a close casket lay on a plinth, bequeathed with flowers. On top of the casket was a framed picture of a smiling boy.

Each person attending had a chance to walk up to the casket and to pay their last wishes. When it was Aron's turn, he walked up, eyes sparkling, and spoke to Steven.

"Scout, this person was very important to me. He was my best friend, and my first real friend. Before my parents' death, I mostly spent my time alone, with private tutors and no time outside. He made me realise that the most important things are not items, like my pokeball collection, but the people you were closest to. I never told him that, and now it's too late."

Steven was happy and surprised that his best friend had thought so highly of him. As Aron paid his respects, he realised how many people his death had affected, even though he was still only a child when he had died. A flash of yellow hair caused him to look and see Lucas, still in his blond-haired disguise at the funeral.

* * *

><p>Lucas was surprised that he had received an invitation to Steven's funeral, but decided to attend without hesitation. Walking up to the casket, he lowered his head and murmured, "Steven, there was nothing you could do. Me? There was everything I could do. I should have known, but I was blinded...I am really sorry for what I did to your life."<p>

* * *

><p>After everyone had paid their respects, the casket was carried out, and the entire procession walked to Floaroma Cemetry, to watch the body being laid to rest. Before the burial, one of the clergymen of the Church of Arceus got up.<p>

"Steven's only living relative, his mother, is not in a position to be able to attend the funeral due to mental illness. In the month that has passed, she has managed to write this eulogy, and it was the main reason why the funeral was postponed. As she cannot be with us today, I invite Aron, Steven's closest friend, to read his mother's eulogy and say a few words of his own."

Aron stood up, unfolding the speech he had been given, and walked to the dias to read.

"I am sorry I cannot be here. My problem stops me from coming. My son's life has been cut short by an accident. It was caused by fight between me and my husband. Fight has been going for a long time now. Steven didn't get too sad, even when we shouted in front of him. He was so strong. So strong. I am sad to see him go. I thought my life was bad, but now I see what happened to girl next to me, Alexa, turned to vegetable, and think of my son. I wish I can write more, but I cannot. Words cannot describe how I feel."

"_Alexa? That's Firael's alter-ego's name...coincidence?"_

Looking up from Steven's mother's speech, Aron continued. "Steven was my first, and my best friend. Even though he had to sit through turmoil at home, he remained strong to the point that no one knew what was going on at home. It is such a sad thing, the life of an innocent child to be lost, so soon. A whole life panned out before him, cut off by one or two rash decisions." Aron glared at Lucas, who stared back with red-rimmed eyes. "Nevertheless, he made me realise that material possessions were not as important as those whom you held close to yourself, and that is the most important lesson I will ever learn, and one that I will always hold true to myself."

After the twin eulogy, a prayer was read and Steven got to watch himself being laid to rest. His casket was lowered into a deep rectangular hole, as church bells tolled in the distance.

* * *

><p><strong>thewookie1: Rai shall not be invincible...wouldn't that be boring? XD<strong>

**Ryu Dragonclaw: I never said pokemon COULDN'T write. Firael can also write, as demonstrated in this chapter, but writing is not a skill all pokemon naturally have...**

**Cyberfire22: Nice to see that you know that Rob's strategy is crappy. If you tried to run it on Pokemon-Online, you'd win one match out of 10, if you were lucky. You'll see him get owned soon.**

**Tasukpaetra: I'd like to introduce you to the ****Sunyshore Facility for Mental Illnesses, I hope you like it!**

**Crazyjosie: So someone does read the end bits...It is going to be interesting to see how Firael/Alexa gets on with Steven, especially for me...O.o**

**ValeforXD: I thought that about Nikolai too! Erm...except the crossdressing bit...that's a little too...inventive, methinks...**

**Did anyone get the towel reference?**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: I just set my Status to Depressed!<strong>

**Alexa: O rly?**

**Rush: He did! I liked it...isn't it on your wall?**

**Alexa: No, you're not my friend yet.**

**Rush: I just set my Status to Depressed!**

**Steven: I just set my Status to ROFL**

**Alexa: ...**

**Firael: What did I miss?**


	15. Small Talk

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Valve...I really do...**

* * *

><p>Steven watched as the priest said the last words of the service as the church bells tolled.<p>

"May his soul and the souls of all the departed faithful by God's mercy, rest in peace."

_As the church bells tolled over Steven's human body, Arceus watched the casket being lowered into the hole._

"_Requiescat in pace."_

* * *

><p>Saturn had been trawling through texts on ancient myths and legends, attempting to find the pokemon that Riniade (or something) had seen. He had come across several mentions of the God Pokemon, the only legendary pokemon to have not been documented in the pokedex by some trainer or another.<p>

Flicking through the pages of the history of Michina Town, he came across a lithograph of an image printed in one of Michina Town's 'Scrolls of Michina'. They were some of the oldest surviving documents that had ever been discovered. Although midly suprised that anyone had managed to get a lithograph of something which had been so jealously guarded by the town's elders (the scrolls were kept in a vault which only the elders could access. No one else would be allowed, under any circumstances to view the scrolls), Saturn only cared about what was on the lithograph. A centaur-like creature with a ring around its midsection.

Just like that captain's drawing.

"_Arceus..."_

* * *

><p><em>Inside their Glass Ball, Alexa was still trying to come to terms with the nearly unlimited freedom afforded to themselves within their ball. Alexa and Firael rarely got to spend time inside their ball, but the funeral gave Alexa a chance to test out the capabilities of the Glass Ball.<em>

"_Firael, I still don't get why you called your rollercoaster 'Mine Craft'. It just sounds weird..." Firael rolled her eyes at her alter-ego._

"_Just...look, it's 'my rollercoaster craft', and 'Mine Craft' seemed to fit, ok?"_

"_Riiiight...whatever you say..." With that, Alexa conjured up a huge athletics stadium for her._

"_Wow, nice! You seem to have gotten the hang of this..." Firael complimented Alexa as she walked up to the stadium. "...except all the doors are melded into the wall? Alexa?"_

"_...oops." Alexa stuck her tounge out at Firael, and noticed that the changes to her body hadn't stopped at giving her a new skin colour._

"_Firael? I've got pointed teeth."_

_Firael sighed. "I guess it's happening then, and there's nothing we can do about it."_

* * *

><p>Sonya collapsed into her bed, exhausted after working overtime at the Plasma Enterprises plant. She had been trying to find a cure for what she had done to Alexa, something that she had previously thought impossible, as it required all her previous equipment, which she couldn't hope to obtain.<p>

However, her department's research into psychoactive drugs had bought up a possibility.

"_Maybe a drug that opens up the subject's mind for rewriting which could be paired with the powers a psychic pokemon would possess...? Could it work?"_

* * *

><p>After a month of training at Iron Island, Rob felt that his team were ready to take on the last five gym leaders.<p>

Charting a course to Pastoria City, he set off, with Rai by his side, memories of that fateful night, so long ago, still embedded in his mind.

* * *

><p>A month after abandoning Team Rocket, Pluto was now nearing New Bark Town. Her decision to cut the long journey through Victory road may have been a good one, but crossing the foothills south of Mount Silver had not been easy.<p>

She was exhausted, and less than halfway towards her destination. She decided that she would have to spend a night at New Bark Town before continuing.

She could also call Saturn, to let him know where she was, and possibly to find more about the importance of the project that she had uncovered.

* * *

><p>Captain Sinther had been in Team Galactic for one week, and keeping his ears open for any news of Pluto's arrival.<p>

* * *

><p>A month after meeting Sharon, Sean had defeated Roark, the leader of the gym at Oreburgh city. It wasn't too hard a task, as gym battles involved getting thumped by the gym leader, who then afterwards evaluated your performance depending on how you fought. Of course, you could just beat the gym leader, but the idea that a novice trainer would beat an experienced gym leader was ridiculous. Sean had gotten his coal badge from Roark, who complemented him on his bronzor's use of trick room, which allowed her to threaten a potential sweep of his entire team. Sean's bronzor took out his rampados and golem with gyro ball and grass knot, but was then wiped out once trick room ended.<p>

Still, satisfied that he had carried himself well, Sean continued on to the next gym in Eterna City to challenge Gardenia for her Forest Badge.

* * *

><p>Palkia had decided to take advantage of the relatively long travelling times between the towns to attempt training Celebi in the use of a few attacks.<p>

"Ow!" Celebi rubbed his head as he was hit by Palkia's stick again. "How is this supposed to train me?"

"Well..." Palkia paused for thought. "I'm trying to teach you Dragon Rage, and it's a move that you find easiest to use by making yourself angry. Like this!" She hit Celebi's head again.

"But this is just annoying! Anyway, what do you know about teaching me this attack! It's not like you've actually learnt it before!"

"Ahem." Palkia put her hands on her hips. "Are you forgetting something?"

Realization dawned on Celebi. "Oh yeah, you did know that attack...ow!"

* * *

><p>Saturn was savouring his discovery when his phone ringed.<p>

It was Pluto.

* * *

><p>Giovanni hadn't been doing much, when his phone ringed.<p>

It was Nix.

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"Sir, it's Commander Pluto."

"Ah, do you know where you are?"

"I'm at New Bark City. I'm heading for Olivine City, and boarding a ship to Pastoria City from there. I couldn't risk the airport at Saffron because Team Rocket has that city in the palm of their hand."

"Very good. I'll send a grunt to Pastoria City to await your arrival. He will arrange for accommodation and transport back to Veilstone City."

"Sir. If I may ask, what is so important about that project?"

* * *

><p>Saturn pondered Pluto's question.<p>

"_Should I tell the truth?"_

* * *

><p>Giovanni waited, hoping that he would get something useful from his phone tap.<p>

"Initially, I posted you at Team Rocket Headquarters to find out what they were planning in Sinnoh. However, the actual project has huge ramifications for our own plans. You've heard about how Mercury's entire team were wiped out, except for the captain that took your spot tailing that blond trainer, Lucas... His name was...Ramande?"

"Erm...I think it was Ryenande. I did hear about the loss of Mercury."

"Whatever. That captain provided me with the drawing of the pokemon that did it, and after some research, I have concluded that the pokemon was Arceus. The God Pokemon. Can you see what we could achieve if one of us could possess Arceus' body? With its power, we could achieve **perfection**."

* * *

><p>Pluto couldn't believe it. Had they really discovered the most powerful pokemon in existence?<p>

"Sir...that is amazing news...I"

"You need to go now. The faster you reach Sinnoh, the better." Saturn hung up.

* * *

><p>Saturn lay back, a huge smile plastered on his face.<p>

"_With its power, __**I**__ could achieve perfection...I pity the fools..."_

* * *

><p>Giovanni couldn't believe what he was hearing. The God Pokemon? He had sworn to never dabble with legendaries again after the incident with mewtwo, but this was too good an offer to resist.<p>

* * *

><p>That night, as he lay in bed thinking of the times he had spent with Steven before he had died, while holding Firael close to him (it was winter, and Firael was an awesome hot water bottle), Aron began to dream.<p>

* * *

><p>Alexa sighed as she hugged Steven closer towards her. Something was off about the taillow, but she couldn't quite put her claw on it...<p>

* * *

><p><em>This time, Aron found himself with the couple again. Why hadn't he appeared in his original position? Was it because he had wanted to follow the couple?<em>

_Meanwhile, the couple hadn't noticed his temporary absence. Shrugging, he followed them towards Jubilife Village. Instead of the sprawling skyline and towering buildings with which he had associated Jubilife City with, he was greeted with a collection of about a hundred houses, all congregated around a large circular clearing, where the business of the village was mostly conducted._

_With the man, who had introduced himself as Davis Borell, leading with his growlithe, and Aron following behind with Janice, they made their way to Janice's house. Inside, the walls were plastered with a papery substance, which Aron didn't recognise..._

"_Paper? Don't you still use paper?" Janice had noticed Aron rubbing at the 'paper'', "Of course, we might make it differently here, so it might feel different... Anyway, these were calculations for the Millennium Comet, which is supposed to cross our skies in 3 months. However, my calculations, which I derived from its current speed and angles when observed through my telescope", she pointed towards a hollowed wooden tube with several rock crystals aligned inside it, in the place of glass lenses. "...show that it is going to appear tomorrow."_

"_Which is going to be a problem, because of this." Davis continued, pulling a purple stone out of his pocket and placing it on the table. Aron instinctively took a step back. He knew that stone._

"_I...I have that stone! It's at home...my home! How did it get here?" He blurted out._

_Janice scratched her head. "I don't know, but this stone has been passed down Davis' family for many many generations, to a time before the last Millennium Comet arrived." She narrowed her eyes. "Say, you don't have any parents or relatives with Borell as a surname?" _

_Deep in thought, Aron nodded. "No...but my friend's surname was, and this was given to me when he died! So that explains it...is this real life?"_

_Davis looked extremely affronted. "Of course this is real life? What kind of question is that? Look, I seriously don't know about you, but I know if I'm real, and I'M BLOODY REAL!"_

"_Ok, ok...I'm sorry...so what's supposed to happen tomorrow, and why is that stone such a problem?" Aron quickly changed the subject._

_Janice took over a little. "You see, everyone's pumped up to hold the Millennium Festival in three months, and if we tell them it's meant to be tomorrow, they won't believe us. Then if we're wrong, we'll be the laughing stock of the whole village. If we're right, they'll be angry at us for not having told them earlier. However, that's not the main problem."_

_Davis had calmed down sufficently to take over again. "No, it isn't. You see, every time the Millennium Comet arrives, jirachi emerges from this stone for seven days. We don't know much about jirachi, except for this drawing of her," Janice pulled out a drawing of a small white pokemon with a yellow headdress on her head, and two yellow streamers protruding from behind her. On the headdress were three blue tags which hung from its three points. She also had a third eye, which was closed, on her stomach. "and the fact that she is a legendary pokemon. Of course, this means that she's extremely powerful, and as such we have to be careful around her. We don't know whether she'll be hostile or not."_

"_Even if she isn't, we have to keep her away from everyone else, because we can't let them find out the jirachi is out, and wish to have her serve them. If they did, that person would have 7 days to wreak havoc before jirachi goes back to her gem. If that person manages to stop jirachi from returning to her gem...I don't want to think about it." Janice continued._

_"Hey, I'll help out...seeing as I've got nothing else to do..."_

* * *

><p>Aron woke up to find the sun shining on his face and Firael's tail resting on his face. "Argh!" He yelled, shoving her tail away from him. "How come it didn't hurt me? Can you...oh...your tail only smolders when you're asleep...but how come you don't set fire to my bed? I need to check that out..."<p>

* * *

><p>Firael, who was in control, turned to Steven, who was still struggling to open his eyes. "I would tell him that my tail fire is slightly different and isn't flammable if I don't want it to be, but he wouldn't understand, would he?"<p>

"Hmmgmh?" Came the garbled reply.

"Oh, never mind..." Firael slapped Steven with her tail.

"Wragh!"

"Of course...non-flammable doesn't mean hot, does it?"

* * *

><p>Two weeks after Steven's funeral Lucas was at Twinleaf beach, south of Twinleaf town, preparing to begin his journey to Faraway Island. Calling out his empoleon, he was about to climb on his pokemon when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.<p>

"Wait! I need to tell you something I forgot I d- knew!" Lucas turned to find the hiker running towards him, hands in the air.

"Wow, how did you go from Snowpoint City to Twinleaf in less than 4 months? It takes at least that long to make that trip by foot, especially it still being late winter."

"I teleported. Simple!" The hiker responded immediately, as though this was an obvious question.

"Erm...you don't have any pokemon...how can you teleport?" Lucas couldn't help but point that out.

"What? Nevermind." The hiker waved him off. "I just need to tell you that Mew likes to cloak her island. You won't know you're there untill you're really close. So even when you're about to give your search up, just remember it could be sitting right in front of you. Mew plays 5 tricks on all who seek her island, and that would be the fourth one you'll have to endure. The fifth one...you'll have to wait!" The hiker started helping Lucas onto empoleon and pushing him towards the sea. As they moved to the edge of the tide, Lucas had time for one last question.

"How come that's her fourth? You've only mentioned two!" However, by now, his empoleon had started to swim out, and all his orders to turn back were ignored. He glanced over his shoulder to see the hiker wave at him. "Good luck!"

Lucas turned back to find himself greeted with the vast expanse of sea in front of him. Turning back one last time, he noticed that the hiker had vanished.

* * *

><p>After some discussion with Alexa's parents, Aron and Alexa's family had decided to go on a short 2 week holiday to Unova, and they were to be leaving in one week. That left one week after the holiday for Aron before he had to go and do a month of school.<p>

Then his journey could begin in earnest.

* * *

><p>However, at the moment, he was busy trying to get a little headstart with training Scout. Firael already seemed to be pretty good at battling, and even though he didn't know whether she had had a previous trainer, she was far beyond Scout in terms of battling ability.<p>

Which meant that they were playing catch to practice Scout's flying skills. Aron still had the little rubber ball that he had bought with his first Glass Ball, which he hadn't used on Scout yet. Aron would throw the ball as hard as he could, straight up in the air, and Scout would have to catch it.

* * *

><p>Steven really hated that rubber ball. It seemed to mock him every time it was thrown into the air, and his wings had started to tire from all the quick flying and little corrections he constantly had to make to catch the ball. It didn't help that the ball was so small. Flying was a lot harder than he'd assumed it was. Whilst flying in a straight line was easy, even a barrel roll seemed like an impossibility for Steven at the moment, even with his natural talent for flying.<p>

"_I really don't look forward to the day I have to start diving..."_

* * *

><p>Rynade was enjoying the end of his extended break when he recieved a call from Saturn.<p>

"Sir?"

"I have a posting for you. Be at Pastoria City within 4 weeks. You will then wait there until the arrival of Commander Pluto. You will need to arrange for proper accommodation and transport for her back to Veilstone. All expenses will be paid."

"Err...ok sir."

"Good." Saturn hung up. Rynade punched his sofa in frustration

"_Why do I have to get such a boring posting? I basically have to watch the waves come in for every day until Pluto turns up! A captain shouldn't have to do a job like this."_

* * *

><p>Pluto recieved another call shortly after hanging up. "Pluto? It's Saturn calling. Captain Ryamde, or whatever he's called, is picking you up."<p>

"Ok."

* * *

><p>Giovanni smiled. He placed a call through to Captain Sinther.<p>

"Hello?"

"It's Giovanni. A Captain, with a name similar to Ryamde, has been given the job of picking Pluto up. Take his spot. I don't care how you do it, but just take his spot."

* * *

><p>One week later, Rynade had gone to the headquarters to sign off a few forms about money, when he was approached by a very well built grunt. "Hell, you look depressed."<p>

Rynade sighed. "Yeah, mainly because I've got to go and languish at Pastoria City for god knows how long while I wait for Pluto to return from her holiday or something..." Rynade paused. He didn't know why he had to escort Pluto or why she would be arriving by boat. Anyway, he didn't care.

The well built grunt smiled. "Hell, I could use a holiday...can I go?"

Rynade looked at the grunt doubtfully. "I'm not sure if I can just swap jobs..." He was waved off dismissively by the grunt.

"Nah...just delegate the task to me...you're a captain, right?" The grunt leaned close to Rynade." ...I really could use that holiday, and you'll still be in Veilstone City, rather than languishing at Pastoria city, right?"

The offer was too good to resist. Rynade shrugged. "Fine. You sign these forms and go have fun in Pastoria! Somehow..." Rynade walked off, leaving Captain Sinther with the forms.

* * *

><p>Mistralton City was a lot like Jubilife in a sense, but the first difference that struck Aron and Steven was how centeralised the city was around the airport. The entire city seemed to depend either directly or indirectly on the airport for their source of income. For example, the ticketing staff would be paid by the airport, but a restuarnt owner would still rely on the airport for new batches of customers.<p>

The only other major employer in Mistralton were Plasma Enterprises. This new start-up, formed from the dregs of Team Plasma after they had realised Ghetsis' true ambitions, had begun to emerge as a major competitor to the Devon Corporation, who had previously had a large foothold in Unova.

Having just touched down, they headed for the hotel that they had booked, which, naturally, was located near the food district. Letting Firael out with Steven while Isrea also released Rush and Vendel, they slowly strolled down the main street of the food district, when Isrea's stomach rumbled. Her father laughed.

"Looks like somebody's hungry. Well, it's too late lunch, so what do you all say to a snack at the sushi bar? Weird name...I wonder what SSBB means... We'll have a huge dinner at night to make up."

* * *

><p>"<em>Grr...this is why I shouldn't be working through my lunch break..." <em>Sonya thought as she placed the final touches on Alexa's 'cure'. After working on it in her spare time, she had finally finished it.

"_...You know what? I can be late to work once in a while...I'll get myself a reward...maybe at that sushi bar or something..." _She looked at the vial of liquid that she carried in her hand.

"_...it's not like I'm taking their property out of headquarters, and I need to be quick..."_

Stuffing the vial into her pocket, she hurried out of her laboratory, heading for Sumachi's Sushi Best Bar.

* * *

><p>Steven reckoned that he had adapted pretty well to life without hands. Sure, there were some problems, like doorknobs and taps, but in general, he thought he'd done pretty well.<p>

Until he was confronted by the ultimate challenge.

A sushi roll.

"_How am I supposed to eat this? I can't grip it with my beak because it's too big...I don't want to peck the rice out individually...that'll taste bad..." _Looking sideways at Rush to see how he was doing, he saw Rush savagely tearing his sushi to shreds before eating the little pieces.

"_That WOULD work...but...it doesn't look nice anymore...ahh...I'm hungry!"_ With that, he launched himself at the roll.

It didn't stand a chance.

* * *

><p>Firael's first thought was, <em>"This isn't cooked! Am I supposed to cook it myself or what?" <em>before being stopped by Alexa, who promptly took over and ate her first roll whole.

"_Wow Alexa, that was delicious! So humans do eat food raw as well?" _Firael, while not in control, could still savour the taste the sushi left in their mouth. However, her mental questioning didn't recieve a response.

"_Alexa? Alexa? Helllooooo!"_

Firael saw herself get up and walk towards the entrance. Out of the corner of their eyes she glimpsed Aron and Isrea laughing at Steven's and Rush's attempts to eat their servings. However, she couldn't understand why she was walking towards a formally dressed woman whom she had never seen in her life.

However, Alexa had seen her before.

"_Sonya..."_

"_Huh? Who's Sonya?" _Firael noticed that Alexa was getting herself worked up. _"Uh oh...this could get ugly..."_

* * *

><p>As Sonya walked into her favourite lunch spot, she noticed an orange charmander come walking towards her, with an expression of pure hatred and anger in her eyes. Not sure why the charmander was acting towards her in that way, she put her hands in the air and started backing away from the angry pokemon.<p>

* * *

><p>Alexa could barely contain her fury at the person who had so callously and selfishly imprisoned and experimented on her. Seeing that Sonya didn't remember who she was, she pointed towards the hated scientist, and then to her own head.<p>

* * *

><p>Sonya watched as the chamander pointed a claw at her, and then at her own head.<p>

Realisation dawned.

"Alexa?"

The charmander nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>thewookie1: Oops. Pluto's future doesn't look too bright at the moment. And Rob's strategy truly sucks. Try it on Pokemon-Online or Shoddy battle.<strong>

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Zoroa's name was more derived from bronzong...cause they sounded familiar...well, they did when I coined the name...**

**Crazyjosie: It would, wouldn't it? Maybe you can tell me about it sometime...XD**

**Cyberfire22: Really? I can see how you might have thought the plot was moving a little too fast, but I was worried I was going too slow. Also, kudos on picking up Jirachi's future appearance in my fic from several chapters ago...seriously, nothing gets past you...except for the mirror thing.**

**Tsaukpaetra: 42. More importantly, what is the ultimate question? And thanks for fixing up that sentence error in my oneshot.**

**ValeforXD: But that's like being proud you attended your own birth! Being present at your funeral isn't something to be proud of imo...**

**Potayto: I had the same problem, and I was writing the fic...I fixed about 30 'Ventus' mistakes before releasing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Firael: Alexa...you've got some explaining to do...<strong>

**Alexa: What? Oh...you found out about the sauce bottle I stole? I'm sorry, but I really needed some sauce!**

**Firael: What? So that was you?**

**Rush: She set me on fire for that!**

**Steven: I'm confused...why isn't this conversation about me?**

**Rush: Hmm...Firael, d'you want to get him first, or shall I do the honours?**

**Firael: Be my guest...I have to attend to Alexa...**

**Steven: Uh oh...ARGH!**

**Alexa: Meep.**


	16. Revelations

**Disclaimer: Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. I never got the point of that notice.**

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><p>"<em>I'm so bored...so bored..." <em>Lucas thought as ht lay on the back of his empoleon. He'd been at sea for over a week and everyday just seemed to get longer and longer.

"_We really need to get wifi out here..."_

He looked at a photocopy of the map that that hiker had given him (the original was stowed safely in his backpack) and checked his watch. Patting Empoleon's head, he reached around to where the Poke-island was stowed and placed it in the water. Pulling out a stopper, he watched as the open-cell foam filling of the Poke-Island expanded into the shape of an extremely large rectangle, about 2 metres long by 4 meters wide. Even though the large size of the Poke-Island was designed so that it could take advantage of the surface tension of the water, Lucas was glad that it gave him extra space to set up the second stage of his Poke-Island, and let his other pokemon out as well. Heading over to the center of his float after stoppering up the first valve, he pulled another stopper open watching as a small tube inflated, half of it above the waterline and half below. This was built with a special material that had very small pores within it, which only allowed for air to pass through, and not water. The tube was, when zipped, fully waterproofed and would provide Lucas with complete protection in stormy weather.

After recalling his empoleon, he spread out his map, opened up his GPS, and started to make more calculations for the next exciting day of staring at his choice of an endless sky or an endless sea.

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><p>"Cmon cmon cmo- God dammit! Not again!" Kova grunted as his slots machine refused to give him what he wanted. Realising that he'd hit his limit, the disgruntled trainer stormed out of the Celadon City Game Corner, heading for his home in one of the condominiums located in the city. He wasn't used to having so much free time, after dedicating over a year solely on the project.<p>

"_Hell, I was the one who caught both of the subjects, and to think that back then I didn't even know what Team Rocket wanted them for..."_

Still grumbling about the Game Corner's refusal to give him any money, he strode into his room and collapsed into his bed.

"_Bloody hell I'm bored...when's my next job? Although, I have to admit...my last job was almost too easy...babysitting a scientist, catching a kid, and catching a strong and healthy pokemon?"_

He began to reminisce about the beginnings of his job. Bringing up his first memory of him talking with Giovanni:

"_I need you to retrieve two things that are imperative to this project. Firstly, we need a human test subject. A fit and healthy child is required. We don't want to take any chances. The same goes for the second item we need, a fit and healthy pokemon. For the pokemon, it is recommended that you head over to Leaf forest, because of it's evolutionary capabilities. An evolved pokemon is a healthy one, so any pokemon found there should do. Afterwards, you will have to help the scientist out with whatever she needs. Dismissed."_

"_Sir!"_

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><p>"You're going to _ing take these candies! I paid good money for them, and I'm not going to see these go to waste!" Rob yelled. In front of him, his Dratini cowered in the corner of the motel room that they were staying in. He threw the Rare Candies on the ground in front of the Dragon Pokemon and stalked past his other pokemon, who were gathered behind him. Slamming the door to the balcony behind him, he leaned against the railing, breathing heavily.<p>

"_I can't believe she doesn't want to get stronger...dammit! I need her to evolve so I can get a pokemon who knows dragon and fire attacks...just in case Rai can't defeat an entire team...I will suceed without Firael...she's behind me..._

_But if she is, then why don't I have any fire types? I've had plenty of chances to catch one, and I still have one spare spot, where a fire pokemon would come in handy..."_

"_Why? I- No! I won't remember!_ I don't need this!"

But the subconcious is an evil thing, and against his will, Rob found himself reliving the day he had spent over a year trying to forget.

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><p>"CHAR!" Aron jerked around at the sound, and saw Firael run at a woman he had never seen before. What made the scene stranger was that the woman didn't try to run or protect herself. She took a running jump and swiped at the woman's stomach with her claws. Aron winced, and was already reaching for Firael's Glass Ball (not that that would have done anything) when the woman collasped to her knees and said two words that Aron didn't expect to hear.<p>

"I'm sorry."

"_What th-"_

"GET OUT! I don't want any fights here, and you two are only gonna cause trouble! Get out!" The cook had run out out and saw Firael's attack on the woman. Quickly standing up and nudging Isrea to follow, Aron said to her parents, "Err...I don't know who she is, but Isrea and I'll just quickly clear this up...do you just want to meet back at our hotel afterwards? Isrea and I just wanted to check out the...local pokemon center!" Aron was making this up on the spot.

"But-" Isrea started, but stopped because Aron stomped on her foot. Deciding to play along, she started inventing her own half of the story. "...But we don't think you'll be that interested. We just want to see if they run the centres the same as they do back home. See you soon!"

Isrea's parents looked at each other. Her father spoke first, pointing to the bar of chocolate Aron had left behind..

"Well, do you want the Dalokohs bar or can I have it?"

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><p>"Zoroa! Use Confusion!" Sean yelled. Palkia and Celebi watched as his bronzor, Zoroa glowed a pinkish colour before her attack blasted through the opposing lotad's Razor leaf. The lotad gave a cry and was blasted back onto his leaf, unable to keep battling.<p>

"Lotad! Lo lotad tad..." he cried

"Nice work, Zoroa! We've got a new member of our team! Pokeba-" Sean had taken off his backpack and was reaching for a pokeball.

"Wait!" Sean could only watch in astonishment as Sharon ran over to the lotad and began talking to it, closely followed by her axew.

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><p>Sonya tried not to show any signs of pain after she was hit in the stomach, but couldn't stop herself from doubling over as the breath was knocked out of her. She didn't hear the cook run out and yell at her. She didn't see the boy and girl that both got up when Alexa shouted. She only had eyes for Alexa.<p>

The girl started dragging her out of the sushi bar, as the boy restrained Alexa from attacking her again. She was dragged to the pokemon center with Alexa being carried by the boy.

They never broke eye contact.

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><p>Isrea was glad that she didn't have to literally drag the woman to the pokemon centre, but she seemed a little out of it, just letting herself get pulled along. As they reached the pokemon centre, Aron went to the counter.<p>

"Yes, how can I help you?" The Nurse Joy asked.

"I need a free room, just for an hour, please? It's really important...I think." Aron pleaded with the nurse, glancing at the woman whose hand Isrea was still holding.

"Err...okay, but I'll need to see your trainer's licence." Aron looked panicked for a second when Isrea pulled her card out of her pocket and threw it at Aron, who only just managed to catch it and gave it to Nurse Joy.

"You're from Sinnoh? I'll check...let's see...Room 14 is free, just sign your name here. You'll have to check out when you're finished. Here are the keys for...whatever you need to do." The nurse said, with a pointed look at the woman.

"Thanks." Isrea signed her name quickly and started pulling the woman towards their room.

"All right, would you please explain how you know Firael? And why she reacted like that to you?" Aron asked when they had entered. Isrea had sat the woman down on the bed, and Firael was seated on a chair next to the bedside table. The woman sighed.

"Firstly, my name's Sonya. My story will take a while, and before I tell it to you, I have one thing to say."

"What is it?"

"Please don't hate me."

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><p>"No! Don't catch me!" Palkia's eyes widened when she heard the lotad cry out and when Sean reached for a pokeball, she knew she couldn't let the lotad get caught.<p>

"Hey, it's ok, we won't catch you..." She murmured to the lotad, who was by now struggling to get back up.

"No! I've got a family to feed and I don't want to battle! I don't like battling! Please...just leave me alone!" he pushed Celebi, who was trying to help him up, away with one of his legs.

Meanwhile, Sean had thrown his pokeball at the lotad, only to find it caught by Palkia.

"Hmph, nice catch..." Celebi muttered.

"Hey! Why did you catch that! I would've caught that lotad if you hadn't caught it!"" He yelled, fustrated at Sharon's intervention.

"Sean, the lotad doesn't want to come with you. He has a family to look after and doesn't want to even battle." Palkia told him, handing him back the ball.

"So? How does he know? I'll treat him nice like all my other pokemon, and he'll like battling. It's just cause he hasn't really battled competitively yet. He raised his arm again, only to have the ball swiped out of his hand by Palkia.

"Don't be selfish! No matter what you think, you're still taking him against his will! If someone did that to you, it'd be called kidnapping! Anyway, he has a family? Even if he did like battling, what happens to his family? Do you know? Do you even care? Are you really that selfish?"

Sean was at a loss for words. After a few seconds of thought, he mutterd... "Whoa. I never thought about that..." before he started rummaging in his backpack, and Palkia was about to stop him from getting another pokeball when he pulled out a potion. Walking over and spraying the lotad with the potion, he then flipped him back up the right way.

"Sorry there, little guy. I've healed you, so you should feel better now. I guess I never really took into account whether you really wanted to come with me..."

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><p><em>He had started his journey in Kanto, and had been training with Firael and Rai for some time. After having beaten the new Yaz gym in Dark city for practice, as they hadn't been fully certified by the Pokemon Inspection agency after the warring Yas and Kaz gyms merged, he had moved on to Leaf forest to give Firael some easy practice on the grass and bug types that lived there, while Vaiel, his vaporeon recovered from a bout of the 'flu (<em>_**Pokemon can catch some human viruses too...I'm too lazy to invent new and exotic pokemon diseases.**__)._

_Instead of finding wild pokemon, he stumbled into a camouflaged person hiding in the undergrowth._

"_Watcha doing there! Gerrofit!" The voice sounded quite muffled, and the person stood up, removing his head gear in the process._

"_What are you doing here? You don't look like a trainer..." Rob saw the man's eyes make an involuntary dart to his left, and immediately sprinted in that direction, gambling on the man to give himself away._

"_Wait! Why're you going there? I've got...I've got traps set up there!" Rob wasn't buying any of it. The man's denial was enough for him to continue running in that direction until he stumbled across a truck with several cages inside. Letting out both Rai and Firael, he said to them, "Hey, remember how we first met? This guy is doing the same to all of these pokemon...what are we gonna do about it?"_

"_Hey! Get away from mah property!" The man had caught up to Rob, who turned on him with a look of disgust on his face._

"_You steal pokemon and have the nerve to talk about property? Rai, go and free any pokemon you find inside...Firael...let's take this guy down."_

_The man smirked. "So be it..." He withdrew his own pokeball. _

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><p><em>Kova remembered bashing through the undergrowth towards the poacher that Team Rocket had stationed in Leaf Forest. His plan was simple: ask the fellow team member to hand an exeggutor over, under orders of Giovanni. <em>

_Life was never so simple..._

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><p>"Until recently, I worked as a scientist with Team Rocket- Wait! Look, just listen! Call the police afterwards if you want to...just let me finish, ok?" Sonya had begun telling her story, but at the mention of Team Rocket Aron and Isrea had looked at each other before reaching for the phone.<p>

"Right..." Aron said doubtfully. Beside him, Firael crossed her arms.

"I'd been with them for several years, and spent most of my time working on making another Master Ball." Aron started.

"You do know that we can't make any more Master Balls because the required metal comes from a meteorite, and that we used it all on the ball?"

Sonya lost her train of thought, slightly surprised due to the extent of the boy's knowledge on pokeballs. "Err...what? How do you know- Look, I seriously don't care anymore. Anyway, I was moved from this project onto another one, which dealt with the possible transformation of a human into a pokemon. However, we soon realised that that wasn't possible, and set our minds on other possibilities. Now, please remember that I had spent 8 years working on a hopeless project, and I saw this as a serious chance for me to make an impact on science and revolutionise it." Firael snorted.

"Sadly, I was wrong. Still, we discovered another method, where we would move the mind of a human into that of a pokemon. We needed a test subject, and so we got one. I never asked how we did, but I guess I never wanted to know, to be faced with the truth. So I began the experiment, but I never found out if it worked, until now. You see, once the transfer process was complete, I resigned, having started to have doubts over the integrity of my work. After I left, I met this teenage girl at the airport, and I told her everything, thinking that it would fix everything."

"I couldn't have been more mistaken." Sonya bent over face buried in her hands.

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><p><em>The man let out a vileplume. "This vileplume evolved right here in this forest, and this is his home ground...let's see what your charmander's made of then! Vileplume! Use Mega Drain!"<em>

_Several green orbs of energy floated out of the Flower Pokemon's spotted head and floated towards Firael. They then touched her lightly before returning back to the vileplume. Firael didn't seem to be affected at all. Rob laughed. "Are you so stupid that you don't know anything about types? That attack would have barely touched Firael. Firael, on the other hand...use Flamethrower!"_

_The poacher's face paled. "What? Your charmander knows Flamethrower?" Rob smiled._

"_Yep. Those TM's come in really handy sometimes, don't they?"_

_Firael charged the vileplume, before opening her mouth and unleashing an inferno upon the hapless grass/poison type. At the same time, several exeggcute and exeggcutor ran out of his truck. _

"_No! My pokemon!" The poacher ran off after the fleeing Egg and Coconut Pokemon. _

"_Nice work, Firael! We'll just wait for Rai to turn up, and then we'll be on our way...huh?"_

_A trainer had emerged from the bushes, clapping his hands. "Bravo! Such an amazing display of brillance and power! I'm just in awe of your battling skills!" He said, voice dripping with sarcasm._

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><p><em>Kova had been about to approach the poacher when he realised that the poacher was engaged in a battle. He decided to wait, and was a little dissapointed that the poacher had decided to abandon the battle and run off after his fleeing pokemon. Now that an easy exeggcute or exeggcutor was out of the question, he remembered thinking that the charmander looked healthy and fit enough for Giovanni's specifications.<em>

_Stepping out and clapping his hands, he said, "Bravo! Such an amazing display of brillance and power! I'm just in awe of your battling skills!"_

_That got the trainer riled up. Just what he needed._

"_Hah! If you think you can just walk in and criticise my team, then challenge me! I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" Inwardly, Kova rolled his eyes. How cliche was that phrase?_

"_Very well, but we play for keeps." He said, grinning at the look of shock on the boy's face when he realised that Kova wasn't a normal trainer, but someone of a more sinister nature. As Kova sent out his golbat, the boy frantically tried to recall his pokemon._

"_Firael, ret-"_

"_Golbat, Mean Look!"_

_The red beam from the pokeball fizzled out once it touched Firael. For the first time, both of them looked scared. _

"_I don't wanna battle for keeps..." He pleaded._

"_But I do, and you challenged me to a battle anyway. Golbat, confuse ray!" _

"_No!"_

_Rob realised that the person would continue the battle regardless of what he said, and Firael couldn't be withdrawn or run away. That left him with only one option: He would carry her away. He jumped onto his pokemon, as she was hit by the golden orbs that had flown out from the golbat's mouth. He saw Firael's eyes cross, whilst picking her up, and started running away from that crazy trainer._

_As he glanced back over his shoulder, he saw the trainer let out another pokemon, which seemed to be comprised of three disembodied purple balls that floated in the air. _"_Oh, no...we can't have that...Golbat! Protect! Koffing! Selfdestruct between the boy and Golbat!"_

_Rob was hit from behind, and looked up to see a tree trunk heading for his face at a speed his face wasn't quite comfortable with. _

_Blackout._

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><p><em>Kova stepped out from behind his golbat's Protect to survey the destruction that lay before him. Recalling his fainted koffing, he found the boy with the charmander in his arms, both out cold.<em>

"_Pikachu!" _

"_Huh?" A pikachu was running straight at him, cheeks sparking. "Crap..."_

_He picked up the charmander and ran for it, not having enough time to search for her pokeball. Kova really didn't want to have to battle the pikachu for his trainer to wake up halfway through the battle._

"_Golbat, use Confuse Ray on the charmander every hour. That should stop her from trying to run away."_

* * *

><p>"<em>I never actually thought of her as an actual human, just another faceless observer...still, she can't expect me to forgive her for what she's done to me." <em>Alexa thought whilst looking at the grief stricken human in front of her. _"Human? Since when did I begin to think of other people as humans?"_

"_Well, I personally can't see anything she can do...we're stuck like this permanently, for better or for worse." _Firael responded.

Alexa then noticed that Aron, Isrea and Steven were all looking at her.

"Oh crap..."

Steven ruffled his wings. "I guess that explains your schizo behaviour...Now I don't have to tell you about my past...haha!"

Firael took over for a moment. "Look. It's really simple. Either you tell us tonight, or your coluring will be changed again, and this time you'll be completely black, and crunchy, geddit?"

"Ok! Whatever you say..." Steven quickly backed off with images of Kentucky Fried Steven entering unbidden into his mind.

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><p>Isrea looked at Firael, who was glaring at Scout. "Were you really a human?" Firael nodded and then shook her head. "Yes and no? What, is only part of you still there?" Firael shook her head. "Are you slowly losing your mind?" Firael looked affronted, and shook her head again more vigorously.<p>

"I know! Is the original charmander still in there?" Aron asked, tapping his head. This time he got a nod.

"What? Oh, no...I thought something like this would happen because we couldn't move the resident consciousness, but I just thought one would overpower the others, not exist in tandem..." Sonya had lept to her feet, wiping tears from her face.

"_I had a method of curing Alexa, but I'd assumed that she was the only conscious being left in the charmander...will my solution still work?"_

"Ok, anyway, that girl knocked some sense into me, and I headed to Unova to see if I could get a job working in another lab. See, I knew Professor Juniper from awhile back, and we actually worked at Team Rocket for 2 weeks, but she quickly saw what took me 10 years to see and left soon afterwards. I got a job at Plasma Enterprises, and in my spare time I was working on this." She pulled out a vial of clear liquid.

"This was originally meant to be a cure for Alexa, if you could find her body, but I don't know if it still works. Basically, it opens the brain up to allow itself to be completely rewritten. What we need is then for a psychic pokemon to project all of your memories", she pointed at Alexa, "into your original body's mind. This could work for anyone with a mental illness, really, but I don't know how effective it would be if there are two consciousness residing inside you. We might end up with two half consciousnesses inside each body, but I'm going to give this to you anyway. It's the least I could do." She checked her watch. "Look, I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work. And Alexa? I'm really sorry for what I've done, and the same goes to you, charmander."

Aron, Steve, Isrea and Alexa all watched as the scientist swept out of the room. Aron turned towards Firael.

"Hey, at least that explains how you can write! ...Err...do I still call you Firael? Was that the charmander's name?" Firael nodded.

"At least that's the same..."

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><p>"<em>So Alexa used to be human? I'm not alone then...what are the chances that this would happen? That the two pokemon who had also experienced human life happened to be owned by the same trainer."<em> Steven thought.

He realised that Alexa—who he assumed was in control at the moment—still hadn't moved since Sonya had given Aron the vial of...stuff. She looked thunderstruck.

He spread his wings and glided over (_"Flying is so easy now, it's almost like the air wants to help me get to my destination now...it's just..."_) and landed in front of the petrified charmander.

"Heeelllloooo? Anybody home? You do realise that that scientist has left now, so you can stop doing your statue impression." He tickled Alexa's stomach with his wingtip. "I wonder how long you can stand this for...urk!" Alexa had picked him up, and hugging him to her chest jumped from her chair onto the bed.

She rolled away, leaving Steven sprawled out on the bed. "Unnh...I don't feel too crash hot...my wings feel like lead...nonono...what are you doing!" Steven starte panicing when Alexa placed a paw on his chest, preventing him from getting up, before beginning to tickle the insides of his wings.

"No! Don't tickle me! No! I'm too sore to...argh! Nooooooooo!" Alexa had begun tickling him, and try as he might, he didn't have any strength left in him to try and fight back after Alexa's stunt.

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><p>Aron and Isrea could barely contain their laughter at the scene that was unfolding before them. Isrea nudged Aron.<p>

"Hey, at least she got over seeing that scientist pretty quick, right?"

"Yeah...but to think that I'm going to have to train a half human and command her to use moves and everything...doesn't that feel wrong?" Isrea cocked her head slightly at the unexpected question.

"Aron, if you think like that, then you're discriminating against pokemon. You're saying that it's okay to train pokemon, but not humans? Pokemon want to be trained, and she even voluntarily decided to come with you! If she didn't want to fight, then she wouldn't have come with us."

"Now that you put it that way, I guess you're right..." Aron sighed, before lifting Firael off a feebly struggling Scout. Placing Firael on the ground, he lifted Scout off the bedside table and carried the limp bird in his arms back to the Pokemon Centre.

"You know, Firael, you may have gone a little overboard that time...Scout looks pretty knackered," He mentioned in passing to the now grinning charmander, who shrugged.

"Der."

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Violet City: The City of Nature!" Pluto scoffed at the overly cheery sign.<p>

"_Why do towns always have to put these signs outside their limits? It's bloody patronizing and no one ever believes what they say anyway...'City of Nature'...what's that supposed to mean? Everyone's houses are covered in vines or somehting? Sigh...I'm just in a bad mood. Still I got to Violet City in two weeks, so not everything is going horribly..."_

Sighing, she trudged into the city.

* * *

><p>After returning to the hotel and letting out Rush and Vendel, Aron and Isrea left for an expensive restaurant which didn't allow pokemon. Some food from the sushi bar had been left behind, and so the four pokemon all happily tucked into the sushi. Whist they were eating, Firael (who had taken over to give Alexa some time alone) filled Rush and Vendel in on what had happened. Rush immediately accepted their explanation, but Vendel was having a little difficulty in accepting their story.<p>

"So, you've got a human running around in your head, and her name is Alexa...who was planted in by Team Rocket?" Firael winced at Vendel's description of Alexa, but nodded.

"Well yeah...I just find it a little hard to accept..."

"How can it? It makes perfect sense to me! Anyway, this is coming from a bird pokemon who can't fly, and swims instead? Wouldn't that seem weird to someone who knew nothing of bird pokemon." Rush chimed in with his perverse logic.

"That's not very nice! I've met a empoleon before, and it could actually swim up waterfalls! Betcha you can't do that, Rush!" Steven tried to break up the argument, but instead got a funny look from Firael.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"When did you meet that empoleon?"

"Oh, it was Lucas'. It was about 3 months ago when I was heading to Hearthome city before...I...met...Arc-" Steven stopped and looked at his friends, who were looking at him with expressions of bemusement. "I've just given it away, haven't I?"

Firael stepped up to him, wearing a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "I knew you were hiding something from us! You have three seconds to start talking..."

"Three..."

"OKOKOK! I'll speak! Jeez, no need to go all psycho on me." Steven started waving his wings in front of Firael stop her countdown.

"Two..."

"What! Err...Where do I start..." Steven was panicking, trying to find somewhere to start his story.

"**One...**"

"Eep. I'm a reborn pokemon, alright?" Steven finally blurted out an answer.

"Zer-what?"

"I wasn't born a pokemon. In fact, I wasn't even born in this universe. It's a bit of a long story, so we can have it after we finish dinner..." Firael growled. "Or-Or we could have it now! Yes...that's a good idea!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Pika! CHUUUU!" Rai shocked his owner, which got him up. The first thing Rob noticed was that Firael was gone.<em>

_Weeks passed, and neither he nor the police could help him retrieve his pokemon. One day, Rob pulled out Firael's pokeball, with Rai watching. "Rai...today is the day we put Firael behind us. I've got Vaiel, you, and that nincada I caught yesterday. I've got to put Firael behind me, and continue on without her." With that, he dropped the pokeball and crushed it underfoot, before walking off into the sunset._

Snapping back into reality, Rob pondered whether he had really moved on."_I don't know...is she behind me? Have I really gotten past her?" _Rob walked back into the room where his pokemon were waiting. The first thing he noticed was that Drats had finally evolved into a dragonair, who was being nuzzled by Vaporeon.

"So you did listen to common sense...nice to know. Ok guys, we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, back to your pokeballs." Vaporeon gave him a filthy look, which he ignored as he recalled all of his pokemon, except for Rai, and settled down to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Ok...so basically, there are an infinite amount of universes, which only palkia can travel be-"<p>

"Why?" Rush cut in.

"I was just getting to that! Palkia's ability allows her-"

"How do you know palkia is a her?" Rush cut in again.

"Because I've met her! Please stop with the questions! Anyway, palkia's ability allows her to travel between these universes, and I was born in one of those universes as a human. I was 10 years old, and...to cut a long story short, this major disaster happened, and I was trapped on this building that was about to collapse. Then everyone froze and palkia turned up and asked me to swap places with the Steven from this world." His friends cocked their heads, and Rush opened his beak.

"NO QUESTION! Basically, this world had a 'me' as well, and they wanted me to swap places with him because he didn't want to be a pokemon trainer, and I would've wanted to. Back at my world, his appearence would have saved my family, and I thought then, well, heck, why not? I was gonna die if I didn't switch. So I did, and I found myself here, as Steven. Rush, I actually saw you on my first day in this universe, but you probably won't remember me...I was that boy who stared at you for awhile before you flew away. As it turns out, my parents had problems. My dad didn't want me to be a trainer, which I didn't know, so I made him really angry on my first day here, and my mother had a mental illness. That had apparently caused the other Steven to become a bit of a bully, so it was a little hard for me to fit in. Anyway, things between me and my dad heated up one night, and my mother came charging in and accusing my dad of stuff he didn't do, and it was too much. He snapped. He left for the pub, and got killed in a bar fight that night. My mother was taken away soon after as her mental illness got worse, so I moved in with Aron."

"Woah, that must have been pretty hard for you..." Vendel patted Steven's back with a flipper.

"Well, things went pretty fine until I got a letter from these lawyer guys that said I had to go to Hearthome City to sign some legal stuff about my mother's will, and so I went to Jubilife City to find an escort. I got Lucas as one...and he happened to be trying to summon Arceus."

"Arceus? The God Pokemon?" Firael and Rush both exclaimed, while Vendel looked confused.

"Err...yeah. He had collected all the elemental plates, which I didn't know about, and he was the only person crossing Mount Coronet, so I went with him. To cut a long story short, Team Galactic were also trying to catch Arceus, and I got killed in the crossfire."

"And basically, to repay me, Arceus got Mew to give me another life, but Mew has a weird sense of humour, hence my colouring...and that's about it!" Steven had decided to keep Celebi's betrayal secret, as he didn't want to complicate an already long and convoluted story.

Steven looked at his friends, who all stared back at him. After half a minute of staring, Rush threw his wings up.

"I give up! Why are we all staring at each other again? I was only playing along! My sushi's cold now..."

"Err...Rush? Sushi is always cold..."

"HEY! Do you guys believe me or not?" Vendel turned around.

"Of course we believe you! Your story's too crazy to be made up, and that slip that you made about meeting Lucas' empoleon seemed genuine. Hell, if Alexa's story is true, why can't yours be?" Vendel said, a sincere expression on his face.

Steven then saw a shadow loom up behind him, and saw Firael looking down at him. He shrugged. "Well, now you know..."

* * *

><p><strong>Aleron's Sword: 1) Yes. 2) YES. 3) I dunno, it's just that everyone who plays it is hooked onto it.<strong>

**thewookie1: FIGHT!**

**Cyberfire22: Thanks for pointing those mistakes out. They're fixed now. You're good with your guesses.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: No references this chapter...I was trying to work a TF2 reference in, but...hey I have an idea *quickly rewrites a little of chapter* **

**Potayto: Thanks for that, although I'd much rather bump into Alexa instead of Firael.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: I don't know what to say here...<strong>

**Alexa: That's because the author's too lazy to give you any proper dialogue. What was that?**

**Rush: That noise? It wasn't much, the fourth wall just shattered.**

**Steven: Oh, was that all?**

**Tanon: Yeah, it's nothing, just go back to whatever you're doing.**

**Firael: And who do you think you are, coming over here to boss us around?**

**Tanon: I think I'm the author, and I CAN boss you around.**

**Firael: ...**

**Rush: Wow...you actually shut her up...TEACH ME!**

**Firael: ...~!**


	17. Approaching

**I've been trying to avoid this, but thoughts in dream sequences are represented with underlines. I also have to thank thewookie1 for pointing out the dreaded plothole that appeared. Hopefully no one noticed and everything can continue fine, cause it's fixed this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own S4 league, or everyone would look like NORMAL people...**

* * *

><p>"Hmm...I'd actually heard about one of these, but never managed to get one because Unova was so far away...my pokeball collection is complete! For now..." Aron shouted, waving the Dream Ball in the air.<p>

"Aron..." Isrea asked, noticing that they had attracted the attention of most of the pokemart that they were in.

"Hmm...?"

"You do realise that everyone's staring at us, and that that ball is practically useless..." Isrea muttered, throwing furtive glances at the crowd.

"Oh...I knew the ball was useless, but I still needed it for my collection...maybe we should head out now." On his shoulder, Scout shook his head in mock dispair.

The two of them headed out, where Isrea's parents waited for them.

"So, you've got your pokeball? I guess we'll be heading back for Mistralton now, seeing as we've finished seeing Entralink forest, and our flight's tomorrow..." Isrea's father said, putting his hand on Isrea's shoulder.

* * *

><p>"So you are to capture the same charmander again, return back here, and then go and track Sonya down. We don't have much on the charmander's whereabouts, except that she is in western Sinnoh, most likely southwestern. Nikolai assures me that the charmander will not be found in Canalave city, as she will want to move away from the place she was detained at, but is less likely to move north, because Snowpoint City lies in that direction." Giovanni handed several photographs of the charmander and Sonya Tanem to Kova who accepted them without a word.<p>

"Sir. Anything to know about the whereabouts of Sonya?" Kova asked, looking at the photos of the scientist whom he had previously worked with.

"No. All we know is that she is no longer within the country. We can set some of our programmers onto the airport's databases to find out what ticket she bought, but it might take some time, so catch the charmander first."

"Sir..." Kova decided to ask a question that was bugging him slightly. "Sir, why won't she head towards Snowpoint City?" Giovanni looked at him incredulously.

"Kova, I'm not in the mood for joking. She's a charmander, for crying out loud! "

"And?"

Giovanni slammed his palms on the desk. "Get. Out. Of. My. Sight."

* * *

><p>"So, Aron, Isrea...what did you think of Unova?" Isrea's mother asked the over dinner.<p>

"It's really...new, and the food here tastes so unlike what we can get at home, you know?" Aron lifted a fork up before putting it into his mouth. (**Well, where else was he going to put it?**)**.**

"Yeah, pretty much what Aron said, but there are so many new pokemon here too! I really liked those Cinccino that we saw on Route 5, but I couldn't catch it because I don't have a Unovan trainer card..." Isrea looked a little disappointed that she had missed out on catching the rare Scarf Pokemon.

After dinner at their restaurant, Isrea, her family and Aron all headed back to their rooms to sleep.

Or rather, for Aron, to _dream..._

* * *

><p>Saturn looked up at Titan, who had just walked in. "So, any further information on our mystery scientist?"<p>

"A little. Her full name is heavily encrypted, and cracking the encryption will take a huge amount of time. However, we have managed to uncover her initials, which are 'S.T'."

"Not good enough. We can't follow such a slender lead. Any predictions as to how long the brute forcing will take?"

Titan sighed. "Sir, AES is designed so that brute force won't be able to crack it. With our current resources, if we try and brute force her name out, it would take somewhere to the order of 10000 years for the right answer to emerge. Even as it is, our Differential Related-key Attack could take up to 6 months to fully implement, but only if we are horrendously unlucky. I can't give a prediction, because the nature of breaking AES is such that we might get her name in 10 minutes or even have it now, although that would be extremely unlikely."

Saturn put his head in his hands, "Fine, just go and crack that stupid cipher..."

"Sir."

* * *

><p><em>Davis and Janice were both looking at him with confused looks on their faces. Aron realised that he was having his 'dream' again.<em>

"_What?" he asked._

"_Your hair...it grew longer...just then..." Janice pointed a finger at his hair, which Aron fingered._

"_Huh? Oh, it's been a month or so since the last time I had this dream...I mean since I was last here!" He quickly corrected himself. "So...what are we doing now?"_

"_If you haven't noticed, it's nearly night. So that means dinner and bed." Davis answered._

"_Bed? So early? Don't you do anything after dinner?"_

"_Like what? Go for a nice peaceful stroll out in the forests where the pokemon are all out for your blood?" Janice asked with a smirk._

"_Oh yeah..."_

_After dinner, which was surprisingly enjoyable, Davis, Janice and Aron all went to bed, where Aron faced a pressing worry. What would happen if he fell asleep in 'here'? Would he be trapped in the dream? Or would he wake up? Or was it impossible for him to sleep in the first place? After half an hour of lying on the rough straw mattress Davis had quickly set up for him, Aron found his eyes begin to droop, as he was about to go to sleep, Aron checked his watch to see what time it read. Confusingly, it read the correct time for his 'dream', 8:45 PM. As soon as his eyes fell asleep, they snapped open again._

"_Wake up! You sleep way to heavily!" Janice was shaking him awake. The room was bathed in sunlight, as Aron snapped up, quickly checking his watch. _

"_8:45 PM? What?"__ He thought, as the digital readout ticked over to 8:46 PM __"My watch says no time has passed, but it's daytime now...and my watch is working."_

"_Wow...what IS that?" Janice had noticed Aron's watch and had grabbed it to get a look._

"_Err...it tells me the time? It's a gadget that we have in my world."_

* * *

><p>Aron woke up.<p>

* * *

><p>Lucas sighed as he lay on his back, watching his Poke-Island float along the boundless stretches of ocean.<p>

He was already bored, and beginning to wonder whether this was all a wild goose chase.

_"What if this map was wrong? One missed calculation, one smudged or mis-copied number, and I'll never get near Faraway Island..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Arceus!" Mew called out to Arceus, who as usual seemed to be engrossesd with the situation in Unova. No one even knew what it was...<em>

"_**Yes, Mew?**__"_

"_I'd just like to say that I'm applying for long service leave. I'll be gone after a month or so...Don't worry, I have a replacement waiting in the wings!" Mew turned to leave._

"_**Wait...what? You can't just LEAVE! No one else can just step in and...do what you do! You're the god of the pokemon! **__" Arceus ran over to the New Species Pokemon, who waved goodbye to him._

_"I thought that was you!" Mew winked at Arceus, who resisted the urge to rear up and kick the impudent pink mouse thing in the head._

**_"I gave you that job because you wanted it...you can't just leave whenever you feel like it!'_**

"_Just trust me...bye!" As Mew disappeared, Arceus stomped a hoof in anger._

"_**Why are all the small legendaries so hard to control? I swear...first Celebi, then Mew...how does she expect me to trust her when she pulls of a stunt like this?**__"_

* * *

><p>Steven and Firael were both thrown off Aron's bed when he shot up, eyes wide with shock.<p>

"Ugh...not how I want to wake up..." Steven how picked himself off the ground first and was shaking his head in confusion. "What's wrong with Aron? He seems a little out of it..."

"Grr..." Steven looked around to find Firael get up with fire in her eyes.

"You wouldn't be Alexa, by any chance?...No...I'm never that lucky..." Steven took off, away from the crazed charmander, as she began climbing up the bed covers with a vengeance.

"_Wouldn't want to be Aron this morning..."_

* * *

><p>"<em>How long have I been having these dreams, and why haven't I ever remembered having them until now? I know how most people can't remember their dreams, but this is different...I remember all my dreams with Davis and Janice..."<em>

Aron heard some scratching noise and, in his peripheral vision, saw Steven flying out of his bedroom.

"_More importantly...do these people exist?"_

"CHAR!"

"_What the-"_

"Nooo! Firael what are you- Hey! Those pillows aren't mine! Don't set them on- Oh great, you've gone and demolished the sheets...can't we take this outside?" With that, Aron hefted the raging charmander onto his shoulder and charged out of the room he was staying in and into the fire escape stairs.

* * *

><p>Rynade wasn't the hardest worker, and he happily took advantage of the fact that no one noticed that he had passed his job on to a grunt to lounge around at home.<p>

The grunt would eventually return with Pluto, the mission would be complete, and he might even get another 2 weeks holiday afterwards while he waited for another mission to turn up. It was times like these where he was glad that the Galactic structural hierachy was as efficient as FFnet's Beta Reader system (**...I don't mind betaing, but you can't edit DocX documents sent to you...how stupid is that? Rant over.**) and that his fiddling with the system wouldn't be noticed.

Of course, he assumed that Pluto would return with the grunt he sent out.

* * *

><p>Captain Sinther yawned as he stretched out on the sand.<p>

"_Ahh...This is the life. I really don't understand why that captain didn't want to do this mission! It's bascially an exercise in enjoying yourself on the beach while you wait for someone. I've even got a beachfront hut rented by Team Galactic for me!"_

"_If only all my missions were like this..."_

* * *

><p>A week after returning, Steven and Firael were watching TV as Aron threw away the remains of his microwaved meal as he couldn't be bothered with doing any real cooking that night.<p>

"So, Firael...It's Firael that's out, right? Not Alexa?" Receiving a nod in reply, Steven decided to continue. "You want to go with Aron tomorrow to secondary school or do you want me to go?"

Firael shrugged. "I don't really mind. It'll be cool to get out a bit, get to know what a school looks like."

"What, you've never been inside a school? But I thought your train- Oh...I forgot..." Firael's face had clouded over at the mention of the word 'trainer' "Well...seeing as you've never been inside a school, I guess you can go. If you don't like it, I can go instead."

"But won't you be bored at home?" Firael asked.

"I can fly, remember?" Steven ruffled his wings, as if to prove a point. "I'll just go visit Vendel and Rush, spend the day with them, and then make it back when Aron finishes school. It would be harder for you if I went to school, because then Isrea would have to pick you up, Aron would have to drop you off, or you would have to stay at home. I don't think Aron would let you walk to Isrea's house alone."

* * *

><p>In hindsight, Pluto realised that she probably shouldn't have headed south from Violet City. While her idea (taking a longer route through the less populated and travelled areas of Johto) was sound in principle, she realised that trying to get through Union cave was extremely hard without decent pokemon, and she had been forced to undertake a little training so that she could defeat the stronger pokemon living nearer the bottom of the cave.<p>

In short, it was a disaster, and the overly cheery sign that greeted her as she entered Azalea Town ("Welcome to Azalea town: The City of Harmony!") did nothing to improve her sour mood. Checking her map quickly, she realised that the last major stopping point on her journey before Olivine City was Goldenrod City.

"_At least this nightmare is nearly over..."_

* * *

><p>About a month after leaving, Lucas had decided to turn back. After several days teetering between continuing and giving up, he had finally reached the conclusion that even if he did find Faraway Island, Rowan's mission would essentially be fruitless anyway, seeing as he couldn't provide Rowan with the GPS co-ordinates of the island as it kept on moving. He had just begun setting a course for the nearest stretch of land (Johto) when he heard a voice.<p>

"_A voice?"_

"Hey, Lucas!"

It was the hiker from Snowpoint.

* * *

><p>Rob had decided to take a short break at Celestic Town so he could restock on potions and other supplies for himself and his pokemon.<p>

After restocking and dumping his bags inside his apartment, he decided to check out the main tourist attraction of Celestic Town, their ruins. He was somewhat surprised to find the interior of the cave the ruins were located, but took the opportunity it presented to look around unimpeded.

"Rai, use Flash. I can barely see my hands in here..." He muttered to Rai, before closing his eyes as Rai let off a glowing ball of light into the center of the cave, illuminating the entire cave...and the woman who was standing at the farthest end of it. She was blond, but Rob realised why he hadn't seen her before. She only wore black, wearing a blouse and trousers complemented by a flowing black coat. Startled, she turned towards the light, and Rob recognised her face from the shows he used to watch on the TV.

"Cynthia? Oh yeah, this is your home town, isn't it? I'm sorry if I'm not meant to be here, but there weren't any signs up that said not to come in, and...oh, I'm Rob." Rob walked over and proffered his hand.

Cynthia took it. "No! It's quite all right. Not many people care for these ruins anymore, because after some archaeologists came and looked the place over, and didn't find anything apart from this drawing, the ruins have ceased to become a source of interest." Noticing that Rob was now looking at the pictures, she asked him a question.

"So, what do you think this drawing represents?"

Rob had heard of this drawing before in history, and so regurgitated his history teacher's lesson.

"Well, The light in the center represents either dialga or palkia appearing at the Spear Pillar. The three lights around it were thought to be uxie, mesprit, and azelf."

Cynthia smiled. "That was what you were taught at school?" Receiving a nod, she continued. "While what you've been taught may be true, I have another theory. I realized that there may be another way of interpreting this. Could this triangle of lights actually represent a different trio? Could they be dialga, palkia, and giratina instead? And the large light at their center. Does it represent something else? Could it be what created this world of ours?" (_**Before I get a banhammer in the face, this bit was copied from Platinum...but that's the point of this scene**_)

Rob thought about it. "So you're saying that there's a more powerful pokemon out there that we haven't heard of yet? That seems a little hard to believe."

Cynthia turned to leave. "Believe what you want, but I've seen things, and I've heard things."

* * *

><p>"Wow..." Sean muttered to himself. "I never expected to get the Cobble Badge after that battle...it was a farce, I got absolutely dominated!"<p>

Palkia handed the diamond-shaped badge, which she had been examining, back to Sean, before speaking. "Look. What did you expect? Lael and Ston both had fighting as a super-effective type against them, whereas Skiera and Zoroa, while both being good defensively and being neutral to fighting type attacks, aren't powerhouses in attack...Basically, she gave you the badge because you still managed to knock out her hitmontop with psychic. Still, you really need another pokemon before you reach Sunyshore City. We got really lucky, and now we're up against gyms with resisted moves until we hit Sunyshore."

"So, basically, we have until Sunyshore for me to find a pokemon that covers my weaknesses? Like a ghost pokemon or bulky water pokemon?"

"Yeah...something like that...you know, your pokemon are easily strong enough to take on Sunyshore, if they weren't all steel pokemon. Why didn't you take on the gyms eariler?" Palkia muttered to herself. Beside her Celebi tugged her trouser leg.

"Look, if it's all right for you two lovebirds, I'd like to get back to our pokecentre? We've been blocking the gym entrance for five minutes now!" Isrea quickly looked up into the eyes of a trainer who had been calmly waiting for them to move. Trying to hide a blush, she quickly pulled Sean out of the way of the trainer, mumbling an excuse.

Sean answered her question. "Well, when I was in Canalave, you saw me battling, right?" Palkia nodded. "Well, basically, I was training my team then, and I was losing a large amount of my battles, so I never thought that I would be able to take on the Gym circuit, but now I know that all those trainers had teams designed to take down the leader of our gym, so what chance did my team stand?"

* * *

><p>That night, Rob pondered what Cynthia had told him.<p>

"_Was she right? Is there really a greater being than the creation trio? It could be something to check out, but first I have to destroy Team Rocket, and that trainer..."_

He clenched his fists.

"_**Kova...**__"_

* * *

><p><em>It had been a month after Rob had had Firael abducted, when he next met Kova. He had reached Celadon City, and was grumbling about not having Firael around to burn through Erika's pokemon. He was walking approaching game corner on the way to the department store when the trainer that stole Firael walked out. <em>

"_Hey! You!" Rob yelled, running towards the man who had ruined the life of his pokemon. However, the man didn't hear him, and proceed to walk into the condominiums located nearby. Rob, however, did see what he was wearing. White shirt and trousers, with a big R emblazoned on the back. Rob quickly ran into the Game Corner and approached the secretary._

"_Excuse me, but did you see who that man who just walked out was?"_

_The secretary smiled back. "Of course! Kova's one of our regulars, but he just said that he'd be leaving on a long mission overseas..."_

"_Thanks."_

* * *

><p>"How did you get here?" Lucas asked. The hiker hesitated a little before responding.<p>

"Err...I swam?" Lucas noticed that the hiker was standing in a rowboat.

"_A rowboat? Out here? How did he- something's fishy about that hiker..."_

"You're in a boat, so you can't swim, but how the hell did you manage to row out this far anyway, and how did you keep up with me? You can only row, and I was surfing or flying every day! Hell, your boat doesn't have oars! What gives?" Lucas decided to pressure the hiker into revealing something about himself.

Lucas could have sworn he heard the hiker mutter before replying. "...so that was what those sticks were for...I just thought these things swam on their own..."

"Lucas? I'm here to tell you that you're nearly at your destination. Don't give up now, you're only a week away. Or don't you want to see mew?"

"_That was nice of him...but he didn't answer any of my questions...hey! He's gone!"_

Sure enough, the hiker had vanished.

Another thought struck Lucas.

_"How did he know that I was about to turn back?"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>I didn't know about this, but Ryu Dragonclaw bought this to my attention. In Australia, and most of Asia (and I'm pretty sure most of Europe...and the rest of the world), school works like this: K-6 in primary school, and 7-12 in secondary school. That's the system I'm using, and is also the reason why Aron is entering secondary school.<strong>_

Secondary school was a novel experience for Aron, but it hadn't been too much of a shock to find how much everything had changed, because he had only attended a primary school for a short time before going to secondary school, having being privately tutored before that. Everyone was bigger, and quite a few people actually owned pokemon. Firael got a lot of attention as charmander wern't native to Sinnoh, and she seemed to be enjoying school.

"_It's kinda interesting how Scout didn't really want to go, but Isrea told me that he was just crashing with her, and that she'll train him a little."_

"Aron! I know this is only the first week, but please try to stay awake! You're not even staying with us for long, so you need to learn as much as possible before you leave!" His teacher chucked his marker pen at Aron's head.

"_Intensive kinda sucks though...I've got so much homework to do! But I guess it's cause I'm leaving school early and all that, and learning only the useful stuff in school seems like a pretty good way of getting out of school. It's not like I'm ever going to need to know how to analyse a text and write an essay on it if I'm a pokemon trainer, right?"_

"Here are your assignments on important figures in history. You are to pick one of these names and write a 1000 word essay on how the discoveries they made impacted the world."

Aron recieved the pile of paper that was being passed around, took one and passed it on, before proceeding to read the assignment. When he got to the list of words, he came to a very interesting name.

_"Janice Rumen: One of the first true Astronomers. She deviated from traditional Astrology and effectively started up Astronomy. Among her accomplishments were her laws of planetary motion and the first objective analysis conducted on the Millennium comet."_

* * *

><p>"Scout, use peck!" Steven sighed as he swooped in on Vendel, who was preparing a pound to throw back at Steven once he hit. Steven swooped in on Vendel, but at the last moment, pulled out of his dive for a split second , which threw Vendel's timing off, before folding up his wings dropping onto Vendel and hammering Vendel's head with his beak.<p>

"What? Ow!" He said.

"Nice work, Scout! I really liked the whole 'swoopie' thing you did there." Isrea made a wavy motion with her hand, imitating the manoeuvre that Steven pulled off on Vendel. "It looks like you've got a bit of natural talent for this, but we've got to go the Pokemon Center now for vaccinations and checkups. Firael doesn't need to go since she's already been owned, but none of you guys have been previously caught."

The four of them left the house and went to the Pokemon Center for their checkups, where they got vaccinated for several of the more common diseases that plagued pokemon, and had their condition assessed. Nurse Joy explained this to Isrea.

"Pokemon that use muscles, like your bird pokemon here or a quadruped like luxray and whatnot, have two types of muscle fibres: Strong twitch muscle fibres and Weak twitch muscle fibres. Strong twitch muscle fibres are responsible for quick movements, and are also used for tasks involving strength, whereas Weak twitch muscle fibres aren't so well suited to this task. They're weaker and can't move as quickly. However, Strong twitch fibres use up a lot more energy when working, and while they don't easily fatigue, they can drain a pokemon's energy quickly, where weak twitch fibres don't drain energy so rapidly. The reason why I'm telling you this is because your oddly coloured taillow here," She pointed at Scout, who was avidly listening, "has muscles made up almost completely of Strong twitch muscle fibres. So basically, he'll be extremely fast, extremely powerful, but will have a huge appetite and won't be able to take hits very well at all. If you plan on battling with him, you can't allow him to get hit, because his body won't be able to take much."

"Tail?"

Nurse Joy smiled at Scout and reached over to scatch his head. "Yes, I'm afraid that battling's going to be hard for you, but your attacks are all going to be much stronger than most pokemon's."

* * *

><p>"<em>So I'm a lot stronger and faster than normal, but really easy to KO. That kinda sucks...but as long as I stay evasive, I should be able to do well...this can't be a coincidence-"<em>

"Mew?"

Nurse Joy reached over and patted his head, which he still hadn't really gotten used to."Yes, I'm afraid that battling's going to be hard for you, but your attacks are all going to be much stronger than most pokemon's."

"Mew? Did she do this to me on purpose?"

* * *

><p>It had been a week, and the hiker's words were correct. Lucas woke up one day to see a dark smudge on the horizon. Before celebrating, however, he decided to check his calculations one more time, and they pointed in the direction of the smudge. He called out his skarmory, packed up, and set his course for Faraway Island.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Next chapter: THE JOURNEY FINALLY STARTS! I was going to do it this chapter, but things dragged it out, and I chopped and changed around lots of stuff, and so...the journey starts next chapter.<strong>

**I also get to reveal why the hiker is so dodgy. You did realise that the hiker is a little abnormal, right? TF2 is still addictive. I don't know who I was kidding when I said the novelty had worn off. Help me. **

**Oh, and I'll reveal one thing about Aron, Isrea and Steven's journey: There will be another character that travels with them, and this character has already been introduced (and quite a while back as well). Care to take a guess?**

**Potayto and Cyberfire22: Thanks for pointing that error out. I proofread, but stuff still slips by occasionally.**

**eclispe2025: The plotline gets more confusing, but I think I handle dialogue better as the chapters progress.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: The bar of chocolate that Aron left behind. OH NO I FORGOT TO PUT IN REFERENCE.**

* * *

><p><strong>Tanon: Phew, that chapter took a while to work itself out, but Aron's soon going to get on the road!<strong>

**Firael: -.-**

**Steven: What's wrong with her?**

**Vendel: She can only talk with punctuation marks, I think.**

**Firael: !**

**Steven: Wow, whatever you did, Tanon, it's really good!**

**Tanon: And why should I...!...?...!**

**Firael: ?**

**Tanon: ...! You can't censor me! I'm...!#%$#%# I'm YOU!**

**Firael: :-D**


	18. Change

**Most of you know who the hiker is now. I hope I hadn't given it away long before I had asked the question, but no one knows yet who Aron's other travelling partner (a.k.a not Isrea) is. Hell, if anyone had guessed it right, then they would have to had connected some dots that hadn't been drawn yet.**

* * *

><p>It was a week before Aron's birthday, and Steven could see several signs that meant that Aron was thinking about the impending day where he would be free of the clutches of school and its hindrances and be allowed to do what he had always wanted. The bags were already packed full of instant noodles, dried vegetables and beef jerky. Aron had learnt the hard way that neither Scout nor Firael liked standard pokefood.<p>

The entire house had been tidied up, except for Aron's room, which still resembled the interior of a washing machine. The fridge was nearly cleaned out, the freezer empty, the pantries bare. It was as if the house was getting ready to hibernate, and it had an effect on everyone. Everyone wanted out.

Everyone wanted to see the world.

* * *

><p>Pluto entered Olivine City (<em>"Welcome to Olivine City, melody of the seas!"<em>) and immediately headed for the shopfront of Seagallop Ferries and buying a ticket to Pastoria City. It would leave in one day.

Then she deposited the pokemon she had been given (they were useless now, and she hadn't wanted to pay extra for them) at the Pokemon Center before bedding down.

* * *

><p>Rob had arrived at Pastoria City and had won the Fen badge after knocking out four of Crasher Wake's pokemon with Rai's boosted thundershocks before he smirked and had said "Your strategy is good, but flawed. This is why," before releasing his quagsire. Rob had forgotten about Quagsire's ability, which ignored stat boosts and had ordered Rai to go for a grass knot, only to find that firstly Rai didn't move as quickly as he should have, and that causing Quagsire to trip whilst it was in water didn't do much damage. He was even more shocked when Quagsire then responded with an earthquake, which caused the waves to knock Rai into the water, where he was no match for the Water Fish Pokemon. He had then ordered Ninjask out and ordered a Solarbeam, thinking that Ninjask would have been fast enough to get the hit off, but his ninjask only recieved an Ice Beam in the face, knocking it out instantly. Rob's next pokemon, his scizor, managed to land a few glancing hits before Quagsire called a waterfall down on him, before grabbing the Pincer Pokemon and using Dive whilst grabbing Scizor.<p>

Vaporeon didn't last very long, because Crasher had predicted Rob telling her to use Substitute, and had his quagsire use Encore, before battering her substitutes down as quickly as she put them up before Rob's Vaporeon fainted. Crasher wake had presented the Fen badge to Rob, but not before giving him a word of advice. "I could have easily sent my quagsire out eariler, but didn't because I wanted to see how powerful your raichu was. However, you need a contingency plan if you wish to defeat Fantina, or have her give you the badge. Also, teach your Vaporeon some attacks, she's useless without a means to defend herself. If she is the last pokemon you send out, she isn't any use if she can't attack. Good luck."

Letting out all his pokemon onto the beach, he frowned at them. "I can't believe that you let yourselves get swept after all the good work that Rai had _ing done! Vaporeon! Don't look at me like that! You didn't even get a hit off at that quagsire! Drats, I'm going to use you for the next gym battle, because my team is too weak as it is. You've got your free time, now go!"

As they all walked or ran off to enjoy their free time, Vaporeon heard Rob shout something.

"Get the _ away from me!"

"Hey Vaporeon, what are you doing? Come over here?" Vaporeon's fur bristled at the false name she had been forced to adopt. She ran over and smacked Rai's head with an azure paw.

"My name is Vaiel. Don't forget that, even if Rob has! Got it?"

"All right, I'm sorry...we leave tomorrow, so lets make the best of today, ok?"

* * *

><p>Captain Sinther was heading down to the beach for another day in the sun when he bumped into a teenager.<p>

"Get the — away from me!"

"Did that_ just shout a blank space at me? Nevermind, I have more important things to do."_

He whipped out a sheet and threw it onto the ground before lying on it and relaxing.

* * *

><p>"<em>Wow, how did you get so much stuff into that thing?" Janice asked. Aron took a moment to gather his bearings, and realised that he was in his 'dream' again. Shaking his head in confusion, he blurted out a response.<em>

"_What?"_

"_That thing on your hand...how did you get so much stuff into it? It must have a lot of pulleys in it to turn the hands, and how did you fit a water clock in there?" Janice repeated her question. _

"_Oh no, I don't really know how it works, but it's based on gears and a battery or something...I dunno. Look, you can have it if you want. I'm going to be getting a new one soon." Aron handed the watch over to Janice, who received it with a look of wonder on her face, before settling it on her workbench and working with Davis to prise it open to look at its internal workings._

_Bored, Aron walked out of the house, and seeing as it was still morning, decided to go on a stroll around the town. It didn't take him long to realise that everyone was staring at him for some reason, but he didn't figure out why until a small girl ran up to him and tugged at his shirt, shouting._

"_Ohh, mama! He's really wearing the sky! Look! It's all blue!" Her mother also came over, and that was when Aron realised that he was still wearing his casual clothes, and that no one else was wearing blue clothing of any type. Sure, there were reds and greens and even the bright flash of yellow, but no blue._

"_Thank god I'm not in my pajamas right now..." __he thought as the girl's mother began to interrogate him._

"_You! How..." she felt the fabric of his shirt, and grabbed his arm as he tried to run away. "It's real! You have skycloth! You wear the sky-colour on you! How did you get the sky-colour into your clothes?" Aron backed away from the mother, who only gripped his arm even tighter. Panicking, he reached into his pocket and fished out a coin, giving it to her._

"_I...uh... buy with this, not from here! Bye!" Aron ran for his life._

* * *

><p><em>Celebi was sleeping on the jelly-like bed she had created for herself in her pokeball when she shot upwards.<em>

"_Ugh...my head!" He muttered as he clutched the aforementioned body part. Concentrating, he realised that he was moving something back through time. _

_More specifically, he was moving a watch back in time._

"_What? How come I'm..." He concentrated on the location that he had been subconsciously targeting. "Oh, Aron's making me do this, so I've still got my powers, but they're dormant? That sucks. I hope to god that he stops giving stuff out there, I want my sleep!_

_Meanwhile (in Aron's time-steam), Aron then proceeded to pull a coin out and give it away. Celebi grunted in annoyance._

"_Argh...stop giving stuff out!"_

* * *

><p><em>The rest of the day had been relatively boring for Aron, although he had had words with Davis and Janice about not warning him about his clothing. However, he didn't want to change out of his clothes, so he stuck to staying indoors. Dinner came and went, and it was nearly midnight when the three of them ventured out under the starlit sky. Aron slumped onto the grass, looking at the sky, as Davis helped Janice set up a tripod and table, upon which lay a sextant, compass, water clock and ... a sundial.<em>

"_What. A sundial? What's that going to do for us? It's nighttime!"_

"_Hey Janice, why do you have a sundial? It's not like there's any sunlight out here..."_

_Janice blushed a little. "Well...actually, it's my lucky charm. I've had it with me ever since I left the guild of Astrologers. They said that the sundial was a symbol of their purpose, which was to tell the future using the location of the stars, of which the Sun is the biggest one. They also said that only the stars could govern your lives, but I don't think so...is it?"_

_Aron thought about it. "Well...there are still astrologists, but nobody really believes what they say anymore, but did you know that the sun isn't actually the biggest star in the sky? It's just the closest."_

_"Really? I...I'll have to look into that. Anyway, I decided to see if there were actually just patterns in their movement, and this comet, if it crosses our sky today, will prove that the sky is not just another sphere outside the earth, whcih rotates around it. It would prove that the earth is a much smaller entity in a much larger area. It could mean the dawn of a new era in science!" Her eyes glowed as she said this, and Aron experienced a slight feeling of deja vu._

"_This was all in the assignment I was given! I have to do some research when I wake up..."_

_Davis had taken out the purple gem that Aron had at his home and set it on the ground between the three of them. They sat,_

_And waited._

* * *

><p>Aron woke up.<p>

Leaping out of bed, he dashed towards his computer and turned it on. Behind him, he heard grumbling from Aron and—thank gods—it seemed to be Alexa and not Firael who woke up.

"Sorry guys, I just need to check something. I know it's only..." Aron said as he glanced at his hand to check his time.

His watch wasn't there.

"My watch..."

* * *

><p>"Huh?" Lucas said aloud as he stepped onto the pier of what was hopefully Faraway Island. "What's a dock doing here? I thought no one had ever visited this island before, but this dock looks new..." He bent down to examine the pier when he saw his shadow cast all the way down the stone platform. Realising that it was late, he pulled out his Pokeisland and chucked it onto the land that the dock was joined onto. He recalled all his pokemon, had some biscuits and dried fish for dinner, and settled down to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Janice Rumen<strong>

_Widely regarded as one of the first true astronomers, she was born several hundred years before the Ball Era, when the first Poke ball was invented. From an early age, records showed that she excelled in calculating the locations of stars and their predicted movements. However, at the age of 17, she left the Guild of Astrologists to pursue her own work. She is most well known for her theories on the movement of stars in space, and was the first recorded person to suggest the Sun was not the biggest star in the universe. She, along with Davis Borell, were also the first and only two people to take accurate measurements of the Milleniuum Comet._

_She is also known for several drawings of an analog watch, far ahead of anything crafted or craftable at the time. Several attempts at remaking the watch depicted in the drawing have all yielded a watch very similar to several watches still currently on the market. Several attempts at finding any other drawings she had made have all resulted in failure. _

_**Personal Life**_

_Janice Rumen had two children, Aron and Gloria Borell. She only married once to Davis Borell, and died age 68, three years before her husband._

_**Early Life**_

_Born near Jublife Village, she..._

Aron didn't need to read further. The impossible had happened. He had been travelling back in time, and influencing the past. But what did this mean? If he accidentally let Janice get killed, then what would have happened to Steven? Would he have still existed?

"Tail?"

"You know what? I'm going back to sleep. It's too early to be up." Alexa grumbled and curled back up on Aron's bed.

Steven glided downstairs to where Aron stood, reading an article on someone he had never heard of before. He perched on top of the monitor.

"Aron?"

"Tail?"

Aron looked up to find scout perched on top of the monitor. He reached out towards the taillow and ruffled his head feathers a little, chuckling.

"Oh, it's just a dream I've been having. You go back to sleep if you want."

* * *

><p>"<strong>What in the name of...Mew! Explain why Lucas is here!" <strong>The hiker, who was previously watching Lucas' pokeisland, spun around to find Arceus behind him.

"Who is Me-"

"**I'm in no mood for your jokes right now, why is that human here? Both you and I know that no one can find your island unless you or I let them."**

"Fine, you got me..." The hiker threw his arms up in the air, letting off a white glow as he did so. Arceus watched calmly as the hiker's illuminated figure disfigured itself and grew smaller, before it faded to reveal mew floating about a metre (_**metric imperial**_) above the ground."He's my replacement."

"**Your replace- You know you can't have a human do that! Only pokemon can take another legendary's position! You can't just turn Humans into-"**

"Ah ah ah...Remember Steven?" Arceus stopped mid-rant.

"**But we weren't transforming him into...ok, fine, I get your point. But you still can't give your postition to a human. It's...wrong."**

"Why?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh, great, not you again!" Firael saw a blue head making it's way over to the clearing where she and Alexa sat in.<em>

"_Hey girls, what's been going on?" Alexa started to explain, when Firael cut across her. _

"_Hah! You know everything' that's been going on! How about YOU tell her about yourself, seeing as she doesn't know your name!" Alexa jumped a little. She hadn't realised that for all the times she had met the curious looking charmander, she had never asked him his name._

"_I could tell her, but where's the fun in that? I'll show her...oh, and by the way, my name's Warning."_

"_Warnin-" Alexa stopped because the clearing they were sitting in had disappeared._

_Now, they were in a box, and the first thing Alexa noticed was the temperature._

"_Cold..."_

Images flashed in front of her eyes, some holes, pokeblock wrappers, a dimming tailfire, and a sign.

_**WARNING: Do not put any person or pokemon inside this mini-fridge for it may cause asphyxiation, hypothermia,and/or death.**_

_On the sign, there was a blue charmander...Alexa then felt several emotions wash over her_

_Anger-fustration-hope-despair-sinking..._

_So cold..._

_So..._

"_SNAP OUT OF IT!" Firael had tackled the blue charmander, whom Alexa now knew as Warning, onto the ground. Alexa shook her head vigorously, trying to rid the headache that had just formed._

"_You weren't meant to show that part."_

"_But-" Warning pawed at Firael, trying to get her off._

"_I thought we'd discussed this. That part is one we never speak of."_

* * *

><p>"Ok guys...lets take a look at this island, then head back home...oh my god...this is not cool." Lucas had gotten out of bed and was planning out the day ahead when realisation struck.<p>

"I've really only gotten halfway, haven't I? I still have to head back..."

Grumbling about how far away Faraway island was, Lucas packed up his Pokeisland and let out all his pokemon, figuring that after spending so much time either cooped up in their pokeballs or with limited space on the Pokeisland, they would appreciate the freedom of movement that the island provided them with.

After climbing up several flights of stairs (_"How come there are stairs on a deserted island?"_), Lucas reached the plateau at the top of the island, which was covered by trees and small ponds. The most interesting feature of the island was that the grass was all perfectly trimmed, which was impossible for an island with no humans living on it.

"Oh, hey there!" The hiker that had mysteriously followed Lucas out onto the sea had managed to stay one step ahead of him again. "It's great to see that you managed to make it here!"

Lucas staggered backwards in astonishment, and ended up tripping backwards over into the arms of his heracross, who happened to be behind him.

"What th- How did you get there? And this time..." He rushed up to the hiker and grabbed him by his lapels as his heracross wandered off, disinterested in the affairs of the two humans, "You're not running away from me!" The hiker smirked.

"Fine. I'll show you why I've been able to follow you around." Lucas felt his grip on the hiker's shirt loosen as a white light engulfed the hiker. Taking a step back, Lucas could only watch in amazement as the glowing figure shifted and grew smaller into the figure of a...

"Mew. All this time and you've been toying with me? You suck. But why? Why did you bring me here? You practically carried me here..." Whipping out his pokedex, he quickly got a scan of mew before she could object, and sent the information to Professor Rowan's lab.

Mew smiled. It was not the type of smile that would serve to put someone at ease. "I bought you here for a reason. You see, I've been a little bored as of late and- what are you doing?" Lucas had pulled out a sheet of paper and started furiously making modifications to it with a pen. He looked up from his work.

"Oh, just polishing off my will. Keep going..."

"WHAT? Ok...so I've been bored," Lucas started scribbling even more furiously, "and I just kinda want a break from my job, see?"

"So?"

"So? You're my replacement! See? It's really simple. Basically, I just have to transform you like this..." She flew over and touched Lucas' head, who jumped back clutching at the spot she had touched, "and then you get to be a mew for a bit while I have some fun as a human! You guys seem to have all the fun..."

"Wait, what? Have you already done this? What if I don't want to- wheredidshego?" Lucas blurted the last few words out when he realised that mew was nowhere in sight.

"I'm so screwed..."

* * *

><p>Professor Rowan was a little worried about Lucas. He had seemed pretty cut up about Steven's death when he left to find Faraway Island, but he hadn't heard from him since he left Floaroma town after Steven's funeral. On cue, an alert popped up on his computer monitor, stating that Lucas had a new pokemon to add to the pokedex.<p>

Mew.

* * *

><p>The first thing he noticed was the ground. It was rising up to meet him. Suitably disorientated and stumbling back, Lucas glanced around himself and found that he had shrunk to about the size of a mudkip.<p>

"W-w-wha?" Feeling an itchiness under his clothing (which had shrunk with him), he pulled off his shirt and realised that his chest had turned pink, and a fine coat of fur was spreading across it. Then he felt something snaking its way down his trouser leg. Patting his left trouser leg, he felt a thick rope like object and pinched it.

"Ow! What the...is that thing part of me- Oh no..." He put his hands to the base of his spine, and felt a tail, his tail, protrude out and go down his trousers. He felt pain in his shoes, and quickly pulled them off in time to see his feet get bigger and two of his toes melt away. His arms had shriveled away into much smaller stubby arms, and upon closer observation he realised that he had paws now. Realising that he'd had to take the rest of his clothing off, he did so, and promptly fell on his back due to the added weight his tail added to his body.

"Ugh. This thing is..." Lucas mumbled as he tried to stand up and stay up to keep his balance. Feeling his face, he found his face had gotten flatter and protruded outwards more. Noticing something weird about his hearing, he decided to say something.

"Testing, test- MY EARS! They...they...WHERE ARE THEY?" Lucas grabbed at the sides of his head, frantically searching for them when he realised that wasn't where he could hear from. Slowly inching his han-...his paws upwards, he found them. At that point, Lucas snapped. He had to see what he looked like. Running (rather, stumbling and rolling) towards the nearest pond he stared at his reflection in the water.

It was official. He was a mew.

"Why is this happening to me?"

* * *

><p>Palkia, Celebi and Sean walked into Pastoria city, intending to challenge Crasher Wake, the leader of the Pastoria gym, in a week. They had been travelling constantly since Canalave, and were all feeling a little worn out. It was actually Sean's idea to take a short holiday, as they had quite a lot of money from battling and their gym victories to spend some time at the beach.<p>

Palkia had also been busy training Celebi, and he had mastered several moves that he had previously not known such as Dragon Claw or Taunt.

"_Hmm...I wonder whether Celebi will still remember how to use these moves when we change back?"_

* * *

><p>Arrow was enjoying himself. He had come a long way with Lucas, having been given to him as a piplup, winning the 8 gym badges and evolving into a prinplup and finally into his current empoleon form. He was lying half submerged in the water as he watched Blitz divebomb into the pond he was resting in, the water not bothering the heracross at all.<p>

"MY EARS!" Arrow shot up from his place in the mud of the pond. Where had that shout come from?

"Hey, Blitz, did you hear that?" Blitz climbed out of the pond and nodded, pointing at a clump of trees a few metres away, before beginning to fly over to the source of the shout. Arrow did his best to follow but wasn't fast enough to follow. Nevertheless, both he and Blitz were unprepared for what they saw in the clearing.

"Mew?" The pink feline was currently staring at himself in the pond, muttering something. Hearing Blitz's exclamation, mew jumped up in the air, frantically looking around before he saw Blitz and Arrrow, who was still puffing from trying to keep up with Blitz.

"Oh no..." the mew said.

"_Huh? Why would Mew say that?_

* * *

><p>Mew giggled as she appeared in the teleportation bay of Jubilife City after transforming into a human.<p>

"_Haha, I'm freeee!"_ she shouted in her head she ran off into the city which held so much that was unknown to her.

* * *

><p>Titan checked the computers who were running through all the keyword possibilities for the AES encryption they were trying to break.<p>

"_Code-checking: Keyword type analysis: 100% Done_

_ Keyword possibilities: 51% Done._

_ Decoding ciphertext: 0% Done"_

Titan smiled. Luck was on his side now.

* * *

><p>"Mew?" Lucas looked up to find the source of the voice, which he thought sounded familiar, but didn't seem to come from a person...<p>

"_Was it a person's? That voice...sounded so..."_

He saw his heracross looking at him with a look of awe in his eyes. Behind him, his empoleon was trying his best to look dignified as he stared at Lucas, who shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

"Oh no." his empoleon looked puzzled when he said that, and Lucas decided to come out with the truth.

"Right...so I can understand you guys now, so I've gotta tell you...I'm not Mew-"

"Yes you are...aren't you?" his empoleon cut across him. Lucas' eyelid twitched.

"Well if I was, then shouldn't you be listening to me instead of interrupting me?" Lucas snapped at his empoleon. It didn't have the effect he expected. Instead of just apologising or waving it off, his empoleon backed away with fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! I just thought that...yeah..."

"Well, I'm not THE mew, but a mew, because I met her about 10 minutes ago, and she..." He gestured to himself, "did this to me. She bloody turned me into a mew and just teleported away! I'm Lucas!"

The three pokemon stared at each other for several seconds.

* * *

><p>"<em>What. So this mew is saying he's my trainer? But how can I believe him? I need to ask him a question that THE mew won't be able to answer correctly...but the real mew can read minds, so she'll know everything I know about Lucas... Wait...I know!"<em>

"What's my name?"

* * *

><p><strong>I'm kinda worried about the TF scene, because I couldn't seem to get it right. Oh well.<strong>

**Hope you got the Heavy reference from TF2 there.**

* * *

><p><strong>Aron: This chapter was...interesting.<strong>

**Steven: You mean boring.**

**Alexa: Only cause you didn't have much of a role in the chap- Oh god not him...**

**Warning: Hiya!**

**Firael:...! $#%&$#**

**Alexa: Still stuck there, I guess.**

**Steven: I really appreciated what Tanon did there, but it's a pity he isn't here at the moment. Wait, Aron, you joined this conversation?**

**Aron: I did? Wait, why am I here? Bye.**

**Warning: Everyone just ignored me. What's with that? Anyway, I'm looking forwards to see how Lucas copes...hehe**


	19. It Begins

**For once, I'm going to pick up where I left off. And we see our first eeveeloution in this chapter! It only appears once. I'm only going to focus on two plot points for the majority of this chapter, because they have stuff that I've got to get out of the way. For all you eevee lovers out there, I was going to have a main character own or be an eevee, but haven't been able to fit one in yet. So this one's a shoutout to you guys. Eevees are a bit generic though...**

**Disclaimer: LET'S DO THIS!**

* * *

><p>"<em>Name? But...pokemon have names? I know trainers that name their pokemon, but I never knew pokemon to already own one. How am I supposed to know what Empoleon's name is?" <em>Lucas thought frantically, eyes frantically darting between what used to be his heracross and empoleon. _"Are they? Can a pokemon 'own' other pokemon? Did I ever own them in the first place? Is it right to do so?"_

In the end, he decided to go with the truth. "Err...I didn't know you had one...I just called you Empoleon, but I would have called you by your name if you told me you had one. I just never gave you one because I didn't think it would be right to tell someone else what their name was. You've got to believe me! I'm Lucas! Look, even my clothing's on the ground, and it's smaller cause it shrunk with me!" He waved his short spindly arms in the general direction of his clothes.

His empoleon waved his flippers. "Look, I'm pretty sure I believe you! If you were the real mew, you would have probably tried to read our minds and then tell us what our real names are. I'm Arrow, and that's Blitz over there." He waved a flipper at Lucas' heracross, who nodded back, a smile on his face.

"Let's meet the others."

* * *

><p>"So, can anyone tell me anything about the current urban-rural distribution of population in Chicheblen?" Aron's Geography teacher paced to and fro, tapping his whiteboard marker in his hand absentmindedly as his flareon stared sleepily at them through half-closed eyes..<p>

"_I'msobored...soboredsoboredsobored..." _Aron slumped in his seat as another question soared over his head.

"_Less than a week left..."_

* * *

><p>Pluto stood on the starboard side of the ferry she was on, having walked around the left side of the ship.<p>

She would be home in less than a week.

* * *

><p>"<em>Flap-pull-lean-drop-strike-retreat..." <em>Steven was totally immersed in another battle with Vendel as he struck Vendel with a peck on the fly. Vendel stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a twig that lay on the floor of the park they were practicing in.

"Come on Vendel! Hang in there! Scout, that was another good and fast attack, keep it up!" Isrea shouted as she cheered both sides on as Rush and Firael watched the two pokemon battle.

Steven circled around, preparing for another dive at Vendel, who didn't back away this time. Without considering the possible implications for this, Steven swooped at Vendel.

"_Flap-pull-lean-drop-st...oh n-" _As Steven was about to hit Vendel, the piplup picked up the twig he had nearly stumbled over earlier and swung it like a baseball bat at Steven. It connected and a loud crack was heard as the twig snapped in half. Steven's world instantly turned into a kalaideoscope of colours as he lost his balance in the air and spun to crash-land on the ground, head pounding.

"Oooerrr..." Rush landed beside the downed taillow, chuckling at Steven's plight. Leaning into Steven's ear, he shouted.

"HOOOOOME RUUUN! Hahaha...that was a good move, Vendel!"

"Arrgh..." Steven waved a wing weakly at the annoying starly.

* * *

><p>"This is so annoying!" Palkia complained as they stared around them, looking for another switch that would allow them to get the the other end of the gym to battle Crasher Wake. "I thought the puzzles were banned by the Pokemon Inspection Agency after too many trainers complained that the puzzles didn't really serve any purpose...why is this...stupid thing...still here?"<p>

Celebi snorted. "Don't ask me, go ask Steelboy over there." Palkia ignored the nickname.

Sean, however, had already heard Palkia's question. "Oh, that's easy, Sharon. Crasher Wake argued that these switches helped his trainers train their pokemon on terrain with differing amounts and depths of water. So because he needed it for his gym, the PCI let him keep it. Some of the other gyms also had 'training facilities'", he used his hands to imitate quotation marks around 'training facilities', "and so were allowed to keep them."

Celebi chuckled. " I love the bureaucracy that you humans have. Training facilities? That's a good one, that is."

Palkia rounded on the axew. "Hey! I'm not human!" Quickly realising what she had said, she spun around to find Sean flat on the ground, staring at something in the water. Relieved that he didn't seem to have noticed his slip-up, she walked carefully over to him and stared into the water again. "What is that?"

* * *

><p>Sean was trying to peer through the depths of the water when he heard Sharon say something that made him think. <em>"Did she just say she wasn't human?" <em>Sean thought as he turned around to see Sharon waving her hands at her axew. Realising that it would look suspicious if he was caught staring, he hastily turned his gaze back to the shape in the water. Sharon came over.

"What is that?"

Sean sighed and pointed."See that dark red shape over there? That's the last switch. We must've screwed up somewhere, so unless you feel like getting wet, we're going to have to go back to the start again."

"Axe. Ew. Axew ewax waxew axew! Axeeeeeeew!" Sean felt something jump over his head into the water, and was suprised to find Sharon's axew diving into the water. As Sharon stayed at the water's edge, watching her pokemon swim, Sean retreated back towards the relative safety of the wooden platform they were standing on.

"_Not human...but she is! Isn't she? I thought axew couldn't swim?"_

* * *

><p>"No. Way. One hour in this godforsaken maze is two hours to many! I'm going iiiiiiiinnn!" Palkia heard Celebi shout as he dived into the water. Glancing at Sean, she was surprised to find him deep in thought, staring at Celebi<p>

_"Oh great. Celebi can swim, but I'm pretty sure axew can't..."_

* * *

><p>"Hey Steven, you all right?" Vendel had walked over to look at the taillow he had just hit.<p>

"Of course he is- ow- hey! Stop doing that!" Rush started, but was then cut short as Vendel started hitting him with one half of the stick which he still held in his flippers. Firael picked Steven up by his legs and chuckled at her friend's feeble protestations.

"_Friend? I guess he is, just like Vendel and Alexa..."_

In her mind, Alexa stirred. _"You mean you've only realised now that you thought of them as friends? I thought they were your friends way before that...Why're you so untrusting? What happened before you were caught? Your last trainer?"_

Firael sighed. _"He was amazing. He could be so strategic, and we'd be trying out some moves that we didn't ever think we'd ever use, but then in a battle, he'd call out for a combo to be used and it would be the perfect moment to use it. But that wasn't all. He cared, Alexa. He cared. And you saw my first meeting with humans. That poacher? But Rob fixed all that, for both of us."_

_As Firael focused her attention back on the squirming taillow in her claws, Alexa sat back (metaphorically) and pondered what Firael had just told her._

"'_We'? What did she mean by 'we'?_

* * *

><p>Lucas found it slightly daunting, observing the reactions of his own pokemon when they saw his new 'form'. He knew that they thought they were meeting the real thing, but he was an impostor, wasn't he?<p>

"_Am I an impostor if I was made into one, by the one that I'm supposed to 'impost'? Is that even a word?" _

He came across Wyvil and Saren first, his skarmory and staraptor both nearly falling out of the sky when they saw him.

"Mew." The unspoken question tore at Lucas' heart; they thought they were meeting their god, and yet...

"I'm not Mew." Wyvil's eyes widened as the skarmory started towards him, but she was held back by Saren. Lucas sighed. "Look, can we find Flygon and Gallade first? Then I can explain everything. Saren and Wyvil watched 'mew' walk off with Arrow and Blitz.

"Should we go? Arrow and Blitz seem to trust him." Saren asked her best friend.

"What has he done? Where's the real Mew? Who's the fake?" Wyvil snapped back.

"I don't know, Wyvil...but whoever he is, he must have met us before."

"And how do you know that?"

"Wyvil, notice how he knew that we also had Lear and Nara with us when we boarded that island? He knew Lucas' whole team."

* * *

><p>"I see you've finally managed to make it through my maz-...my training facilities!" Crasher Wake exclaimed as he greeted the two trainers who stood in front of him. "I assume both of you want to take me on?"<p>

The girl spoke up. "No, I'm not a trainer. Just Sean." Beside her, her axew, who was till dripping, nodded.

"Oh, my bad. Well then, lets battle!"

Crasher Wake led them both into the battling arena, which consisted of a large pool with several floating circular platforms on the surface of the water, all connected by thin planks of wood. As of now, Palkia noted that all the platforms were attatched by the planks, but that the latches that held them together were designed to be easily undone. The surface that they were battling on would quickly disintegrate as the battle moved on.

Beside her, Sean was wondering who to send out first. "I know that he always uses his floatzel, quagsire and usually uses his gyarados, but who else might he start off with? He usually also likes to send out his vaporeon, sharpedo, ludicolo and kingdra. I should have gotten a fifth pokemon before now. He's got five, and I shouldn't have made a hard battle harder, especially when I don't know what pokemon he'll be using."

Palkia shoved Sean lightly. "Lighten up! You're not super effective defensively against his favourite element with all your pokemon, which has to be an advantage. Anyway, you shouldn't be worrying about what pokemon he sends out first, 'cause there's only one choice for you. The only pokemon you can send out first is Lael."

Sean looked confused. "But why? I won't be super effective against the three pokemon he uses the most...lucario don't learn much apart from fighting and steel attacks."

Palkia rolled her eyes. "Don't focus only on offense. lucarios will pretty much resist or at least won't be hit super effectively by any of their attacks, except earthquake, and that's going to do SOOO much damage to you when you're standing on water, huh? Anyway, Lael's the only one of your pokemon that can't actually levitate or fly, so if you want to take advantage of her skills, use her whilst the battlefield is still intact."

Sean stared at her, dumbfounded. "Ho-How did you know all this?"

Forgetting herself a little and thinking of her brother, Darkrai, Palkia waved a hand at him, "Oh, personal experience...I've battled tricker opponets than...hey!"

Palkia looked down, where Celebi had just jabbed her leg with a tusk.

"Idiot." Celebi muttered.

* * *

><p>"Lael, just be safe and use Detect first up, he'll probably try and knock you into the water first or something." Sean whispered to his lucario. After giving Lael his advice, he thought back to Sharon's words.<p>

_"She said she'd battled before...but she wasn't a trainer, and you can't have such involved battles with only one axew! There's more to Sharon..."_

""Go, Lael!" Sean shouted as Lael stepped out, albeit a little tentatively, onto the floating platforms as Sean's other pokemon and Celebi watched on. Because Sean wanted his pokemon avaliable for quick switches, he had let all of them out. Crasher Wake, on the other hand, had decided to keep two of his pokemon concealed, and had only revealed his gyarados and quagsire, apart from his floatzel, who had slid quietly into the pool that constituted the arena.

"You know the rules. Withdraw your pokemon when knocked out, unable to keep battling or if they've been forced out of the arena. Impress me and you get my badge." Crasher Wake called out across the pool. Floatzel got up on one of the center platforms as Lael made her way to one of the outer ones, as per Sean's instructions, before sitting down in a meditative position.

Without a word from either trainer, the battle started. Lael remained where she was as everyone except for Crasher Wake and Lael peered into the water, trying to find the distinctive flash of orange that indicated Floatzel's position. However, no one saw any movement until...

A huge amount of water erupted around the platform where Lael sat, forming a whirlpool with the intention trapping the pokemon inside. Floatzel climbed up onto a nearby platform and prepared to unleash a focus blast at the whirlpool when...

BAM.

From behind, Lael unleashed a devasting array of punches and kicks upon the floatzel, who hadn't noticed Lael apporaching as he was still focusing on his blast. A final punch sent floatzel away, and Lael was about to follow up her Close Combat with a Quick Attack when...

"Lael, use Sunny Day!" Sean changed her strategy.

"_Genius." _Lael thought as she raised her arms to the air and concentrated the sun's energy inside the room. How that worked, she never knew, as the gym had a roof on it. Crasher Wake frowned.

"I'll bet you taught your lucario that move just for my gym, didn't you? Floatzel, Rain Danc-"

"Quick Attack!"

Lael seemed to disappear as Crasher Wake's Floatzel was knocked back even further, and struggling to get up when an aura sphere crashed into him as rain started to fall. He held his ground for nearly a second after getting hit, before slowly toppling into the water. Crasher Wake recalled his pokemon before he fell into the water and sent out his gyarados. Sean paled, but Palkia whispered something in his ear, and his expression immediately brightened, even though Palkia started to look miserable as she got wetter and wetter from the rain.

"Gyarados, Thunder!" Obviously Crasher Wake was aiming to abuse the extra accuracy Thunder enjoyed in rainy conditions as his own Rainy Day hampered his gyarados' flamethrower's effectiveness. However, acting on Palkia's advice, Sean countered with a move of his own.

"Me First!"

* * *

><p>"Nara, Lear!" Blitz called out to Lucas' last two pokemon, who were having an impromptu sparring session on one of the lower and more barren plateaus. Again, Lucas couldn't help but feel a little shameful as their reactions mirrored those of his skarmor- No...those of Wyvil and Saren.<p>

"No, before you ask, I'm not Mew!" Noticing Nara begin to open her mouth, Lucas cut her off before she could ask. However, he heard another voice in his head.

"_I know. Lucas...would you kindly explain to us why you look like one?"_

Lear.

* * *

><p>Crasher Wake's eyes widened. "No..."<p>

As black storm clouds formed above Lael, a similar formation of clouds formed above his gyarados.

Problem was, his gyarados was going to get hit first. And he knew that Gyarados didn't like electricity.

Briefly, he entertained the thought that he might lose this battle, but dismissed the thought nearly as quickly as it came.

"What are you doing? Lucario don't know how to use thunder!" Lael glared at Gyarados, who was looking at her with an expression of utter terror. Lael smirked.

"Me First."

"No..." With a final wave of her arms, a monstrous bolt of lightning struck her opponent, who screamed as he felt his nerves go into overdrive. Lael winced. She hated it when she somehow ended up using an attack way too powerful for her opponent. Normally when battling, she got hurt, but it didn't hurt so bad. However, there was the Wall.

Every pokemon knew of the Wall. It was the barrier where the limit of the amount of pain they could withstand existed. Nothing really hurt until you reached the Wall, but if something bypassed the Wall...

Lael shuddered as the lighting struck her opponent. She had only been sent past the Wall once, and she never wanted to go back again.

* * *

><p>"You're expecting me to believe that you're a mew now because Mew decided she wanted a holiday?" Nara exclaimed when Lucas had finished his story. Arrow and Lear both tried to comfort the agitated flygon.<p>

"Look, I'm sure it's Lucas, not some other person claiming to be him...or rather...mew." It didn't seem to have the intended effect.

"I know he's Lucas! But why? Lucas..." She turned to face him, and Lucas realised that he couldn't decipher her expression because of the rose-tinted lenses that she had over her eyes.

"Did you come here to become Mew? How do we know you haven't betrayed her?"

* * *

><p>Crasher Wake then sent out his next pokemon, a ludicolo. Without thinking, Sean ordered Lael to rush in with a Close Combat, but Ludicolo glowed red as Lael launched into a salvo of punches again. Once Lael had finished, the red glow that surrounded Ludicolo turned into a beam that shot Lael in the chest, knocking her back several metres, where it was evident to everyone that she couldn't continue battling.<p>

"Nice counter, Crasher." Sean called out. Crasher Wake grunted in response. Sean ordered Zaroa out, and as the bronzor floated across the pool, Crasher Wake nodded his head, finally realising how Sean's team was built.

"All steel types? I guess I never really had any chance against you."

Once out, Sean ordered his Zaroa to use Sunny Day, just as a hydro pump narrowly missed her. Sean started. "Ludicolo don't learn Hydro Pump!" to which Palkia whispered in his ear. "Nature Power. Cause this is a water environment, Nature Power becomes Hydro Pump." Suddenly, Sean smirked, realising that he had an idea. "Zaroa, use Sandstorm, then return! Skiera, you go in and take on that ludicolo!"

As Zaroa was whipping up a sandstorm and getting hit by a Hydro Pump, Sean leant down by his skarmory's head and whispered into her head. "Skiera, that ludicolo's doesn't have anything to hit you with. Don't bother attacking it, set up Stealth Rock and then hit him with a Quick Attack if Crasher doesn't switch him out. He's not going to leave you to fight a ludicolo, he's not that stupid."

As expected, Crasher Wake recalled his ludicolo just as Skiera set up stealth rock. Sending in his sharpedo, Skiera was about to throw some spikes into the arena when Sharpedo smiled tauntingly at her. Abandoning her previous attack, she instantly plunged into a dive, ignoring Sean's pleas to stay out of the water. Oblivious to her trainers cries, she dived in, and Sharpedo then fired an ice beam, not at her, but at the surrounding water, causing it to freeze up and trap the skarmory inside the ice. As the frozen form of Skiera floated to the top, Sean, Palkia, Ston and Zaroa all watched as the shark-like pokemon nudged the ice cube to the edge of the pool, then fired it out of the pool with an aqua jet.

"Recall your skarmory, she's out of the arena." Crasher Wake smirked.

Sending Ston in, who immediately used Thunderbolt on the water and paralysing the sharpedo, Sean smiled as he could see the battle ending soon, especially as he knew that the last pokemon Crasher Wake hadn't revealed was his quagsire, and he knew how to deal with that. As he realised that his magneton was about to use another thunderbolt to knock out the sharpedo, Sean realised that his plan could be even more effective.

"Ston, use Volt Switch! Zaroa, you know what to do. Sunny beam combo if his quagsire comes in, do what you want with the ludicolo..."

* * *

><p>"No! Do I look like I'm enjoying this?" Lucas shouted back, waving his hands in the air. He looked around at the rest of his pokemon. "Don't you guys trust me? I promise, I never wanted any of this to happen..."<p>

"_I know. I trust you. We all do." _Lear whispered in his head.

"_This telepathic thing is going to get some getting used to..." _Lucas said as he shook his head.

"_Actually, even if you weren't psychic, you'd still hear me. You just wouldn't be able to reach out. At the moment, you're not using any telepathy. I just couldn't speak with you before because you were human. You have much to learn."_

Lucas looked at his pokemon. "Geez...I've got lots to learn, haven't I?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his gallade smirk.

* * *

><p>Crasher Wake did send in his ludicolo (who winced as he was scratched by the rocks on his side of the battlefield), intending to save his quagsire for Ston, but as he ordered ludicolo to use Nature Power and shoot a Hydro Pump towards the bronzor, he saw Sean grinning.<p>

Instead of shooting a Hydro Pump at Ston, his ludicolo instead started jumping up and down, causing the ground to shake and rumble as waves sloshed over the platforms that still stayed near the center of the arena. Too late, Crasher Wake noticed two things. Firstly, Sean's bronzor had used that blasted Sunny Day move again, and second, the sand from the sandstorm eariler had covered all the platforms, which meant that his ludicolo was trying to use Earthquake because of Nature Power.

"_Oh crap."_

He saw his ludicolo get picked up and thrown back down into one of the platforms, breaking it, as his opponent's bronzor's eyes glowed pink. Saw his ludicolo fail to get up. He sent out his quagsire.

"Solarbeam!"

"_What? Solarbeam takes about 20 seconds to charge up...If Quagsire could swim up and latch on to that accursed bronzor's back, then he can't get hit by it..."_

"Quagsire! Quickly swim over and-" Crasher was going to give the order, but a green beam had erupted from the Bronze Pokemon and hit his quagsire directly in the face, instantly knocking it out.

Too late, Crasher Wake realised his mistake. "Oh no...Sunny Day boosts Solarbeam's speed and power, and my Quagsire was really weak to grass moves anyway."

Looking up at his opponent on the other side of the pool, he smiled. "Congratulations. I believe you've won yourself a badge."

* * *

><p>"...<em>pzzt<em>...Preparations for the Millennium Festival in Johto have been hampered slightly with the worker strike going on at Goldenrod city. More info in one hour..."

Aron jerked up, instantly awoken by the alarm on his radio.

Today was his birthday, the day he left.

He quickly shook his charmander awake, Firael yawning as she rolled over and Scout tumbled out of her arms where he had been sleeping.

"C'mon guys, we gotta register at Sandgem city, then we can start our journey! First I gotta call Isrea and meet up with her."

* * *

><p>It had become a routine for Captain Sinther. Every morning, he would check the ship schedules upon waking up, and if there weren't any ships coming from Johto, he had the day off to himself. Today wasn't one.<p>

Sighing, he grabbed a newspaper and settled down at the cafe near the disembarkment area to wait. If Pluto came out, this would be one of the first places she would look for her escort, and the newspaper would block enough of his face for her to be within grabbing range.

* * *

><p>"Aron!" Isrea exclaimed as he saw her best friend approach from the distance. They would use the minivan they had bought after the hole 'incident' to drive up to Sandgem.<p>

* * *

><p>In a week, Lucas had started to master some of the moves that mew would have known, mostly under Lear's instruction. He had realised that no matter how much he wanted to go back to his original life, he couldn't. Even Transforming wouldn't be a permanent solution, and he realised that as he was now technically a pokemon, he could get caught if anyone threw a pokeball at him. Hell, if they dropped the pokeball on him he might still get caught. It was unlikely, but you never knew...<p>

He was grateful his pokemon were doing all they could to help him master mew's body, but it was hard...at the moment, his psychic powers had only developed to the point where he cold barely levitate himself.

* * *

><p>Mew reflected that most people didn't, upon first seeing a new city to explore, head towards the library. She thought that books were how people entertained themselves, but it was only when she decided to try other places in Jubilife that she realised how far back in the past she was living. No, there were many more things to do in Jubilife than to just read.<p>

Currently, she was in the Maxi Casino, one of two rival casino's in Jubilife. Taking on a human disguise that was of the right age, she snuck in, and although she didn't play (where was the fun in that? She knew what they were thinking, so winning would be almost too easy) but she liked watched them. She found it funny how humans liked to wrestle with their emotions, and how often they let the offer of a potential shortfall go to their head. In a casino, there was no such thing as common sense, and she found that fact funny.

* * *

><p>Pluto felt her heartbeat calm down as she stepped off the ferry she was on.<p>

This was it. She was safe.

Looking around for the grunt that was supposed to pick her up, she spotted the cafe and headed towards it. Once inside, she realised that there was only one person inside, reading a newspaper. She was about to look elsewhere when she saw the piece of paper that was on the newspaper reader's table. A golden 'G' was the only thing printed on it.

She walked over. "Are you here under Saturn's orders?"

The man grabbed her wrist as he bought the newspaper down. Pluto could feel her blood begin to race.

"No. I'm here under Giovanni's."

* * *

><p><strong>Ahhh...that was a tricky battle to write, so I hoped you enjoyed it. I didn't really advance the plot much, but at least Aron's left Floaroma. (FINALLY). Oops, I forgot review responses last chapter...sorry guys.<strong>

**Farla: You pointed out a lot of stuff...some of which I agree with, but some of which I don't. Thanks for your time, though. You wrote a ton.**

**ej92: This is why you don't delete chapters randomly in your fic...and your OC will be making an appearence soon!**

**Multiversity: Nice to see you recognised **

**Cyberfire22: I kinda screwed up explaining that bit, but I think I've fixed it better, and Rob's going to go through some major heartache soon. I need to stop bashing my characters.**

**leygose: Thanks for all those reviews? You do seem to be a little obsessed with Google Translate though...**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: We're finally going somewhere!<strong>

**Firael: What do you mean? You've already travelled to another universe, to Spear Pillar, to Unova and met tons of legendaries and you STILL want to go places? What the hell is wrong with you?**

**Alexa: I concur.**

**Steven: What. You talked.**


	20. Ghosts Of

**We see the return of two characters that haven't featured recently and a new OC (suspense is suspenseful)! I never forget any of my characters! ...Except for Mr. Jowitz. I believe he is the only dropped character in this fic so far. Oops. Jerry doesn't count. There is also a 'battle'...but it doesn't really count as one. Poor Rob...**

**I don't even remember who and Jerry are anymore.**

**Poketech and pokedex are items, not names, so they won't be capitalised.**

**DISCLAIMER: Why do I bother with this?**

* * *

><p>"Hi there, You're Professor Rowan?" Rowan started, having not noticed the woman walk into his office, and turned around to face her.<p>

"Professor Birch sends his regards."

* * *

><p>Pluto's mind raced.<p>

"_Run." _

Pluto made a move for the door, but was quickly stopped when she felt something sharp touching her waist, having somehow already cut through the fabric of her clothing. Looking down, she saw a brown and white pokemon with insect-like legs but the arms of a scyther with one of...his? Her? arm blades across her waist. Behind her, Captain Sinther chuckled.

"So predictable. Did you think I wouldn't have a way to stop you from running?" He stood up and strode over to the pokemon who was currently restraining Pluto. "Here, we see some of the experiments that you weren't _qualified_ to know about. We call him Kabutops." Sinther then pulled a black oblong object and curled his arm around her, pressing the object into her stomach.

"This is a taser. You know what they do. If you don't struggle, then we're just a honeymooning couple heading back to our hotel. If you do struggle..."

"I'm just a guy helping his 'drunk' girlfrend back to her room. 'Drunk'," Pluto could almost hear the quotation marks, "as in too tired to move. No one would be any wiser."

Recalling his kabutops, the Sinther and Pluto walked out of the cafe and into the street.

* * *

><p>Lucas dropped to the ground, grunting irritably. Being the only part psychic-type in his team, Lear had taken it upon himself to undertake most of Lucas' training. After only a few days, his gallade had helped him use telepathy and minor telekinesis. That was fine with Lucas. What wasn't fine was that he was still stuck in this bloody stupid pink furball with no way of changing back until he learnt how to Transform.<p>

When he'd asked Lear about it, his gallade had told him it was probably the last to second last move he would learn, alongside Aura Sphere. Realising that he would probably be stuck on this godforsaken (he chuckled a little at the unintended pun) island, Lucas decided to see if he could get a message off to Rowan explaining his extended absence.

"_The truth. Should I tell it?"_

* * *

><p>"Huh. Now it's my turn to go in. Hopefully this time won't be as hectic." Aron remarked to Isrea as they stood outside Professor Rowan's lab.<p>

Upon entry into the lab, he was accosted by a man wearing a white-collared shirt, black trousers and an overly brightly coloured tie that clashed with the rest of his attire.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I'm applying for a pokemon trainer licence. Do I go and see Professor Rowan for that?"

"Yes, it's this way, but you'll have to wait for his last visitor to leave." The assistant replied curtly.

However, as they were about to reach the door, Aron slipped a little on the polished metal floor. Steven who was only lightly perched on Aron's shoulder, fell off and landed in front of Aron, who then tried to jump over his fallen pokemon instead of stepping on him. Unfortunately, Firael, who was walking alongside Aron, had tried to run in and pick Steven up to stop him getting squished by Aron's foot. the end result of this was that Aron, who was now in midair, tripped over the taller charmander and careened into the door, blasting it open.

* * *

><p>"Err...I don't believe we've met before." Rowan said, still a little thrown off by the lady's abrupt greeting. She chuckled and held out her hand.<p>

"No, we haven't. I'm Morgan Bailey, freelance photographer. I really only popped by because when I told Birch that I was going to Sinnoh he asked me to send his regard- oh! Hi!" She was interrupted by a boy who had entered the room.

Maybe 'entered' wasn't the right word. However, whilst Rowan was still staring at the sight of the boy sprawled out on the floor of his doorway, Morgan's eyes had moved further up past the downed boy.

Past the lab assistant, who was apologising furiously.

Past the charmander, who was rubbing her head with a furious look on her face.

And onto the taillow.

Her eyes lit up.

* * *

><p>"These arms are so useless! They don't deserve to be called arms!" Lucas grumbled as he fumbled with the zip on his bag. After finally getting it open, he pulled out his poketech and booted it up. Using a new trick he'd learnt, he called out to all his pokemon, who were scattered all over the island.<p>

"_Guys! I've got the poketech. We're sending a message to Rowan. I just need you guys to help me figure out just WHAT to send him."_

* * *

><p>"Ugh...that didn't really work out..." Aron muttered to himself while staggering to his feet. Looking up, he saw Professor Rowan and another woman with him. She looked in her early twenties, seemed a head taller than himself and short auburn hair. She wore a dark green shirt, blue pants and black hiking boots.<p>

However, her attention seemed to be elsewhere, green eyes fixed on some object beyond the doorway. Deciding to take advantage to her temporary loss of focus, Aron moved over to Rowan, asking, "Professor Rowan?"

"Hmm?...Oh hi there. You here for registration?"

"Yeah. I've already got a starter though."

"Good, because if not then we'd have to rearrange another time for you." Rowan pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Aron, who grabbed it while reaching for a pen. "Just fill this out while I get your pokedex. Gary here can take your photo for your ID."

As Rowan walked out of his office, the woman snapped out of he trance and grabbed Aron by his shoulders. "I've never seen a taillow with that kind of colouring before. D'you mind if I take some photos of...him? And by the way, I'm Morgan Bailey."

Aron nodded, as he wanted to get on the road as soon as possible, and if Morgan was preoccupied with Scout, then Rowan would be less likely to be distracted by her and put his registration through sooner. He glanced at the man who was fumbling with the mounted tripod camera that was always used to take ID photos.

"Hey, Mister...?"

The man flashed a smile before replying. "Stu. Gary Stu. What did you want to say?"

"Oh, just sorry for falling over and everything..."

* * *

><p>"And...there! It should be finished now." Lucas shouted triumphantly. Looking up, he saw all his pokemon looking at him. "What?"<p>

Wyvil threw up her wings in mock frustration, sunlight gleaming off her steel feathers. "Figures. We spend an hour helping him figure out and type up a message and he doesn't read it out to us. Typical."

"_Hey!" _Lucas replied telepathically. _"I'll read it to you, but telepathically. God knows I need the practice."_

Blitz frowned, supposedly deep in thought. "Actually, that makes sense. You are a god, so you would know if you needed the practice." He smirked at the mew's reaction. "Just riling you up a little...no need to get your tail in a knot."

"_Whatever. Do you want me to read the message or not? You guys can all read fine. Jeez...ok. Here goes. _

_Rowan, _

_Have reached Mew's habitat and logged its position, but it constantly moves, so its extremely hard to track. Have met Mew, but am now detained on this island indefinitely. _

_Lucas."_

Saren shrugged. "It'll do."

* * *

><p>Rowan had grabbed a pokedex and had just given it to Aron, who was scanning his charmander into it (Scout was otherwise occupied) when a message came through on his computer.<p>

"Morgan?" The photographer came back into the room with Scout flying in behind her. Aron took the opportunity to scan Scout as he perched on his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, is Birch still working on that Mew project of his? He won't talk to me about it anymore."

Morgan frowned. "Ye...Yeah...he was. He told me to keep a lookout for Mew on my travels, but I didn't see one."

"Ha! See, I sent one of the best trainers of our region, Lucas," Unnoticed by both the professor and Morgan, Aron was listening intently. "Away to investigate, and he's just replied saying that he has found it. Problem is, for some reason, he's stuck on that island for a while."

Aron decided to butt in. "Is that the same Lucas I punched a month or so ago?"

Rowan nodded, finally recognizing the youth that Lucas had come to blows with over a month ago."What he did sorely weighed him down, Aron. I had to give him an assignment that sent him off by himself so he could come to grips with what happened at Spear P-... in Mount Coronet. It was for his own good."

* * *

><p>Isrea lounged outside the lab. Winter was receeding and the weather was just that much more bearable, and she didn't mind it one bit. Her parents had already taken the minivan back to Floaroma, so she had to be content with just sitting and watching Rush and Vendel chat for a bit.<p>

"_I wonder what you guys talk about...the weather? Life? What attacks you know? We really don't know much about you guys..."_

* * *

><p>Giovanni had just been talking to Kova on the phone when another one came through. Stopping Kova midway through his spiel on the search pattern he planned to adopt and putting him on hold, he recieved the other call.<p>

"Yes?"

"Sir? It's Captian Sinther. We have Pluto."

Giovanni didn't smile, because his men never saw him smile. They saw him as an eternally angry man who was not to be crossed. A ticking time bomb.

Why would he disappoint them?

"Very good. Transport is being arranged." Hanging up on Sinther, he put Kova back on.

"Kova, I don't care exactly how you want to search southwestern Sinnoh for that charmander, just that you catch it. Understand?"

"Y-Yes sir." The line cut off. Giovanni relaxed back in his office chair, an immovable scowl on his face.

But on the inside, he was grinning like a maniac.

* * *

><p>"Ok, Aron, there're a few things I'm legally bound to tell you before you begin your journey..." Realising that Aron's and Rowan's conversation didn't hold any importance for him, he turned around and found himself face to face with that woman whom he had noticed had taken to staring at him.<p>

"Hello."

"_stalkerstalkerohmygodshe'saftermestalkerstalker..."_

Instead of actually voicing his illogical (and childish, he realised) thoughts, Steven just settled with tilting his head sideways slightly and chirping once.

"Hey, I'm Morgan...err...is it all right if I carry you for a bit? Your colouring really is quite remarkable..."

"_Stalkerstalkersta- What? Oh, not the colouring thing again...why does everyone notice the colouring?"_

Glumly, Steven hopped into Morgan's hands and nodded.

* * *

><p>"What took you guys so long?" Isrea asked, getting up, as Aron walked out with Morgan behind him. "And who is she?"<p>

The woman looked up and gave Isrea a quick grin, whilst giving Scout back to Aron. "I'm a freelance photographer, and my name's Morgan. I was just looking at your partner's pokemon...he has such a delightful colouring, don't you?" She tickled Scout under his beak, which he didn't seem to like. "You know...next time we meet, if we do, how 'bout we go for a photo shoot? It's not everyday you see a shiny pokemon, and from what I gather, you're not even one of those..."

"_Kay...sure thing! NOT." _Steven traitorously thought.

"Ok...bye!" Aron said uncertainly.

_"Serves you-...WHAT? You agreed?" _Steven couldn't believe his bad luck.

"See ya!"

* * *

><p>Pluto was a defeated woman. A week in solitary confinement was all it took to break her, and upon opening her cell door, she ran and hugged the legs of whoever (by then, she didn't care) had opened the door.<p>

"Hmph. Come with me. Looks like you got off easy." The voice of Captain Sinther sounded somewhere above her. Getting, albeit unsteadily, to her feet, she sagged onto the captain's shoulder as he helped her out of her cell and down the corridor.

* * *

><p>"Are we there-" Aron started.<p>

"NO!" Isrea yelled back. "I don't see why you're complaining...you were the one who wanted to beat up all those starly back there straight after we left Sandgem! When I got my pokedex, I didn't act so childishly...but...ugh...you're complaining about being bored and we've only been away for a week!" She shook her head in defeat. It was at times like these that she wished Firael had taken control of the charmander's body, but the more docile Alexa was in control, and as such she just slapped a claw to her face in exasperation.

"Tail!" Scout's cry sounded from ahead.

"Looks like Scout's found something. Hope it's Jubilife. At least that'll shut Aron up for a bit."

* * *

><p>Standing outside Hearthome City's gym, Rob gave a slight smile. Being the fifth Gym leader out of the eight in Sinnoh, she was, for many, their first true test. Whilst the first four Gym leaders were somewhat generous with their awarding of gym badges, that trend stopped with Fantina.<p>

Rob was confident. Sure, he'd lost against Crasher Wake, but that was just a temporary form slump, and he now had his dragonair to help him against the ghost specialist.

* * *

><p>The past week had been some of Steven's best. He had gotten to spend pretty much the entire day flying, and was already much fitter than he was before their group had left Floaroma for Sandgem. The battles he'd had with all those starly had also helped him train his aerial combat, as fighting Rush all the time did tend to get boring, as Steven had gotten used to his fighting style.<p>

Speaking of Rush...

"Hey Steven! Check this out!" With the improved hearing that all taillow possessed, Steven located Rush flying ahead of him, having already flown through the cloudbank he was approaching. Snapping upwards with practiced ease out of his glide, he waited until all his momentum had been lost, before tipping over backwards into a dive, through the clouds...

For a moment, all the faint noises that he associated with flying; the wind, the sounds of the trees below, the sound of Isrea and Aron bickering, were all cut out as he was immersed in a cocoon of silence.

Then.

"_Woah!" _Bursting out of the cloudbank with wisps of cloud trailing out after him and thoroughly soaked from flying through the cloud, Steven found himself staring at a bird's-eye view of Jubilife City.

"_It looks so different from here, and different from the cities back in...my home world...it looks...alien..."_

"Haha! Looks like yer drenched too! Howabout we dry off a bit, huh?" Rush had taken advantage in Steven's loss of concentration to pounce on him from behind.

* * *

><p>"Bonjour! Je m'appelle Fantina!" Rob was a little taken aback at the sight of the woman that stood before him. Sure, he'd seen pictures of her, and she was famous for her dress sense, but her dress...took up so much space! And the purple. So much purple...<p>

"In case if you didn't know what I just said, my name's Fantina. I see you come to challenge me, non? In that case, let us begin!" With a sweep of her flowing dress, she breezed into the arena.

Following in her footsteps, Rob stared at the arena that he was to fight in. At first, it just looked like a cube- shaped room with purple stone for walls, but then, upon reaching the center of the arena, Rob realised that there were tens of thousands of thin strands of string, all suspended from the ceiling, hanging inside the entire arena. Fantina noticed him feeling the material and felt she had to explain.

"Ah...you have found my strings? Many people have complained that the colour of the room gives me a fair advantage. Oui? Non! But they insisted, so I have no choice, I put ceux strings in."

* * *

><p>"I've got you this time!" Rush yelled over the howling wind as both bird pokemon plummeted to the ground, grappling fiercely. Rush tried to use his bigger bulk to pin Steven's wings, so he would submit and Rush would win, but Steven managed to slip out of his talons and maneuvered himself onto Rush's back.<p>

"Really? Cmon, give me a ride!" Realising that Steven wasn't going to get off, and was probably going to win again, Rush tried rolling on his back to shake off the taillow. Realising that Steven had really dug in, Rush attempted spinning in both directions whilst flexing his wings, trying to dislodge the persistent taillow on his back. Eventually, he realised that they had fallen to within 10 metres from the ground.

"I win!" Steven yelled as he let go of Rush and spread his wings wide to break his speed as quickly as possible. Rush did the same, feeling his wings snap outwards as he spread his feathers as wide as he could to achieve maximum surface area.

Panting and completely exhausted, but still pumped up from their aerial wrestling match they leant against each other for support as they made their way back to the sound of Aron saying something about his favourite character on his favourite show.

* * *

><p>Mew woke up. <em>"Unnh... what time is it?" <em>

A quick check of her bedside alarm clock informed her that a catastrophe had just occurred.

She'd just slept through both breakfast and lunch.

"_Why must you mock me so, Arceus? Why?" _

Fishing around for some clothes and not liking the ones she found, she conjured out a new pair and put those on. Admiring the way the white and dark blue patterns blended together in the mirror, she smiled, preparing to head out and try some food somewhere new.

* * *

><p>Rob was in trouble. To begin with, the banette that Fantina had led with had taunted immediately upon seeing his ninjask emerge from his pokeball. Something within Zask snapped when banette taunted him. In a fit of rage, he picked the attack he knew was most likely to hit the banette he had just made it his life's mission to kill. Furiously buzzing his wings, he shot off towards the marionette pokemon.<p>

Meanwhile, Fantina's banette had expected an attack to come straight for her, and prepared a Will-O-Wisp and focused it on the spot she knew Zask would come from. Unable to avoid hitting his target, Rob's ninjask had flown straight through the Will-O-Wisp and connected with his opponent. However, while Fantina's banette seemed relatively unscathed from the encounter, Zask had recieved heavy burns from flying straight into the Will-O-Wisp. Turning around for another go (he was still enraged by Fantina's banette's Taunt) he found himself face to face with a huge black eye with red irises. It seemed to bore straight into the heart of the insect pokemon, and with a short, frantic buzz of his wings, Rob's ninjask had fallen.

"Bon travail! Good work, Freya! I always did like Hex."

Things had gone downhill rather quickly after losing his major baton passer. Figuring that at least she might serve to tire out that tiresome banette, Rob had sent out Vaiel, to whom he still hadn't taught any attacks. She immediately got taunted, and several thunderbolts quickly took care of her. Feeling disgusted with the apparent uselessness of his vaporeon, he was about to recall her when she got up again.

"Ahh...she has spirit, but she fainted. Send out your next pokemon." Fantina ordered.

As Rob sent out Scythe, his scizor, he began to feel an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time.

Dread.

* * *

><p>"Oh, you weren't fighting again, were you?" Firael said.<p>

"Nah...watcha talkin' about? We never fought? See?" Rush draped his wing further around Steven's shoulder. "We're best buddies!"

Firael tapped her foot on the ground. "And my name is Bureka. Now. The truth, or I'll let the real Firael do the asking."

"Aww...have a heart, miz...mmf!" Steven had covered Rush's beak with one of his wings and tackled him to the ground. Picking himself up and dusting himself off as Rush rolled around on the ground in mock agony, Steven tried his best to explain what they had been doing.

"We weren't actually fighting. It's just a game we play. One of us pounces the other in the air, and when we have to see who can pin or stop the other from flying by the time we fall to a certain height. Sure, we could do it on the ground, but where's the fun in that?" Steven explained, anticipating Firael's second question.

"Argh...the pain...the PAIN! Somebody please help me!"

Sighing, Aron tilted his head towards the starly on the ground. "What do you want to do about him?"

Firael's eyes clouded over for a moment, before clearing up again. But when they did, the expression Firael wore was completely different, carefully but with speed, Steven began to back away from her.

"Oh, I'm just going to 'help' Rush. It might be a little messy, though, those injuries look pretty bad."

"The pain...oww...ahh, a kindred soul! One who- mmmfggnk!" Firael had picked him up and Rush was now locked into a bear hug.

"...need air...can't breathe...oxygen!" Came the wheezing voice from Steven as he took to the skies, heading for Isrea and Aron.

Somebody had to tell them that Jubilife was nearby.

* * *

><p>"You're an idiot."<p>

"I know"

"You're an idiot."

"I know"

"You're an idiot."

"I know" Palkia sighed as Celebi prodded her continiously.

"Seriously, why did you try and walk through that swamp? We could have easily gone around, but, no, you just had to go and fracture your ankle! And now we're stuck here while Sean gets to do some training.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I'm an idiot! I just thought that humans could take a little more damage before breaking like this..."

"You're still an idiot."

* * *

><p>"I'm hungry." Aron absent-mindedly mumbled to himself.<p>

"Star!"

Isrea chuckled. "Looks like Rush agrees with you. Lets find somewhere nice to eat. They wandered around the bustling metropolis when they spotted a nice looking cafe.

Mew was meandering around the streets of Jubilife when she spotted what looked to be a nice looking cafe.

The interior of the cafe was filed with bright colours, arranged in a very de-stijl style on the walls and floor. Strolling aimlessly to the chair with Scout on his left shoulder, Aron sat down, before hearing a voice shout a name he thought he had left behind him, at Floaroma Town, when he stood in front of a coffin...

"Steven?"

He didn't know what was more unexpected: the fact that the voice seemed to belong to someone he swore he had never seen before in his life, or the fact that Scout actually _turned_ towards the source of the voice, a girl wearing matching white and blue pants and a tracksuit.

* * *

><p>"<em>Is that..."<em>

"Steven?"

"_What the...did I just say that aloud? You utter imbecilic-...ok...self-ego bashing can wait...how am I supposed to get out of this mess?"_

The boy who was with Steven turned towards Mew, apprehension etched clearly on his face. "Y-You knew Steven?"

Mew wasn't going to tell the truth, because that would have opened up a whole new can of worms for her.

"Err...no. I just got him confused with another taillow." As soon as she had said the words, Mew started berating herself for coming up with such a bad excuse.

"_Oh...my...god! What kind of retarded excuse was that? 'Yeah, I somehow managed to confuse a BLACK, LIGHT BLUE and red taillow with another taillow, which are either dark blue and red or bright green and orange..."_

* * *

><p>Giovanni only took one cursory glance at Pluto before waving Sinther off. "Take her somewhere else. She is of no use to me in this state. Get her some proper accommodation and for gods sake feed her!<p>

Picking up his phone, he began to dial...

* * *

><p>Steven was officially confused. "<em>How the hell did that girl know my name? I've never seen her before...have I?"<em>

His confusion was only heightened when he heard her excuse. _"That's bollocks. You'd have to be colour blind to confuse me with another taillow...she's trying to hide something...but what?"_

* * *

><p>Saturn was sifting through a pile of hideously boring reports on the financal situation of Team Galactic when a call came through.<p>

"Hello?"

"This is Giovanni. I know who you are. You know who I am. I wish to discuss a truce."

* * *

><p>Isrea didn't buy the mysterious girl's story. Grabbing the food that the waitress had served them, she gave two paper bags to Aron (one for him and another to be shared between Scout and Firael) and grabbed the other two herself.<p>

"So..." She said sweetly, "now that we have our lunch, we need to find somewhere to stay. Hey! You can tell us where you're staying, we'll go there! I _just _can't be bothered to go hunting for a good place to stay. Whadd'ya say, Aron?"

The mysteious girl shook her head in denial. "I live here. I can show you a nice hotel, but I'm not in any of then."

"You're kidding me, right?" Isrea scoffed."You're not dressed for the weather, it's wednesday afternoon when you would normally be working, and this cafe pretty much caters exclusively to tourists? Don't deny it! Aron, lets go! I'm sure that where ever you're staying, it's really comfortable, and we don't want to go to a bad hotel, do we, Aron?"

Aron winced as he was sharply elbowed in the ribs. "Ow- yes...yes-yes lets go!"

As they left the cafe, the mysterious girl reluctantly leading the way, Aron muttered "As long as I get to keep what's left of my ribs..."

* * *

><p>Sean walked into the ward, glad that Sharon was awake. Sitting down and placing his hand upon hers, he stared into her purple eyes.<p>

"Sharon, are you hiding something? Cause I noticed you acting as if you...weren't a human." He knew he was onto something when he felt her flinch slightly.

"Is there anything you need to tell me? Some kind of mental condition? Traumatic childhood? You can trust me, can't you?"

Palkia knew that Sean had been suspicious of her behaviour at Pastoria, but had assumed he had passed it off as just erratic behaviour. Even though she found his conclusions slightly humorous, she couldn't tell the truth, so she settled for a half-truth.

"No. There...there isn't anything wrong with me."

* * *

><p>Despite several attempts by the girl to ditch them, Aron and Isrea had booked their room next door to that of the mystery girl's. Aron didn't really understand what all the fuss was about, but went along with it because he valued his ribs too much.<p>

Collapsing onto the freshly made single bed (Isrea had steadfastly refused a Queen or double bed, which Aron had wholeheartedly agreed to) and exhausted from the events, Aron settled down to sleep.

_And dream..._

* * *

><p><strong>I hope 'Bollocks' is acceptable for the K+ rating... not getting to use any swear words is a little restrictive at times, because there are situations that warrant swearing, but on the other hand...you then start using them for the sake of using them...defeating the purpose of having swear words in the first place. <strong>

**If anyone is wondering about Rob's battle, I intentionally only wrote half of it this chapter, so you don't have to point that out. Also, ValeforXD, you better know who Freya is.**

**Anon: Me no comprehendez. Que?**

**Cyberfire22 and Ryu Dragonclaw: Heh, I just found out about Nature Power by accident, but it was so cool I had to use it.**

**thewookie1: I'll set Firael on him.**

**ej92: Hope I didn't screw up with Morgan. I felt I might not have done her too well, but I can fix that later on. CURSE YOU VAIEL!**

**leygose: Thanks for pointing out my gender confusion. I like to use the same word for plural and singular form. So "5 lucario charged me" or "I landed on 12 Kyogre." etc.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Yeah! Do what he says!<strong>

**Rush: Stop yelling! I've gotta splittin' headache...bin' havin' strange dreams...**

**Firael: Oh? What sort?**

**Aron: Hey! I've been having we-**

**Alexa: What are you doing here? Go back into the chapter! This is our spot!**

**Rush: I dunno, I just kept on dreaming about this pikachu named Aaron and some huge monster machine thingy...the fourth wall kept on being broken...and then there was this voice telling me to guess where I came from. I mean what's with tha-**

**Vendel: Oh my god! ScytheRider actually updated! Come read it now!**

**Everyone (including Tanon): OMGWTFBBQ.**


	21. Not What He Wanted

**Disclaimer: Redundant space is redundant.**

* * *

><p>Fantina didn't budge when the red armored insect pokemon emerged from his pokeball and charged head on at her shuppet. She knew how to deal with scizor, and so did Freya. Scizor were potential threats to her pokemon, so she wasn't afraid of making a sacrifice to dispense of said threat.<p>

Rob didn't look at Vaiel as she picked her way back towards his side. Realising that she wouldn't be withdrawn into the relative comfort of her ball, Vaiel slumped down by Rob's side to watch the battle.

"Night Slash!" Rob yelled as Scythe lifted one of his pincers, which were pulsing with a black energy. Rob expected Freya to attempt a last ditch attack or to withdraw, but instead, all the shuppet did was close her eyes. As his scizor bore down upon her, she opened her eyes again, and now they were glowing purple. Before Rob could shout out a warning, his scizor had ploughed into the Marionette Pokemon and they had both careened into a swirling purple vortex that had appeared behind Freya. They both exited out the other side, but neither pokemon was moving.

"Destiny Bond..."

"Mon Dieu! A ghost pokemon knows Destiny Bond? I am so surprised!" Fantina shouted in mock horror. "Send out your next pokemon."

Grunting, Rob let Rai out as Fantina released pulled a pokeball out of the folds of her huge dress.

"You'll never get past my raichu! He's far more powerful than all my pokemon!" At his feet, Vaiel rolled her eyes.

"_Only because Rai's the only pokemon he trains nowadays."_

Fantina smirked. "Oh? But you haven't seen my next pokemon? I find his skills to be_ merveilleux_." She pulled out her second pokeball and released her pokemon...

* * *

><p>Even though he was a little put off that Aron had gone to sleep without him or Firael, Steven had just begun to snuggle under his trainer's (he had begun to get used to having his best friend as his trainer) arm when his sensitive hearing picked up some muttering from the room next door. Recognising the voice next door as that of the girl who had said his real name, he decided to sneak around to get a better look.<p>

* * *

><p>"Shedinja. Face it, your raichu can't touch Slaze." What looked like a hollow shell of a nincada floated down to face Rai, who actually looked scared. Rob, however, didn't, and promptly ordered a thundershock. Beside him, Vaiel groaned.<p>

A huge arc of yellow lightning struck the floating shell, who...

...didn't move.

"Huh?" Rob asked. It had no effect, but shedinja's a bug! Why isn't it...oh..." Rob trailed off when he realised his predicament. Shedinja's ability allowed it to completely resist anything which didn't hit it super effectively, which meant that none of the attacks he had taught raichu would work on shedinja. Rob cursed himself for neglecting to teach Rai some of the more esoteric TM's, like Thief or Swagger, which were the only two ways that he could have hit shedinja.

As it was, Rob could only watch helplessly as his raichu was slowly worn down by Slaze's Fury Swipes. Blow after blow after blow landed on the helpless rodent as he tried his best to fend them off, but after a minute or two of constant battering, Rai tripped over his feet, and fell over backwards. He didn't attempt to get back up.

"Ahh...another one down. And what may your last pokemon be? Hmm? Or was he your last pokemon?"

* * *

><p>Mew was considering her options.<p>

"Unnh! This is annoying! I know I want to go with them, but they're already suspicious of me... still, Jubilife's boring now...and I do want to see Sinnoh, don't I? It's just that Steven knows that I know something about his past, or does he only _think_ that I know something about his past? I'm sure I know he knows what I know is something he knows about his past. Right? The only thing I'm sure of is that I know that Aron doesn't know what I know, whereas I'm still not sure if Steven knows much about what Aron knows...Hmm...It's all a conundrum...I know what I don't know, but I also don't know what I don't know!"

* * *

><p>Steven backed away from the door he was listening from, head spinning.<p>

"_What does she know about me that I don't know she knows? Or is it something she knows that I don't know? Or...do I know she knows what I know about me? If so, who is she to know? I don't know...it's all so confusing..."_

* * *

><p>Vaiel paled. <em>"He's not going to send Drats out, is he? He's already lost, and Drats doesn't know any attacks yet! Is he?"<em>

Rob seemed to be fighting an internal battle. Eventually, he clenched his fists and drew out his last pokeball.

"Eon!" Ignoring the panicked shout from Vaiel, he threw his pokeball, releasing a dragonair into the arena.

"Dragonair! Use..." Rob paused. He hadn't actually taught his dragonair any moves.

"Use whatever attack you can!"

"_Oh man...how can he do this to Drats? He knows she doesn't know any attacks, and she doesn't stand a chance against that shedinja..." _Vaiel frantically thought.

"Hey, Slaze!" The shedinja looked around confusedly until he saw the injured vaporeon by her trainer's side.

"Hmm..." Slaze's voice had an almost etheral quality to it, almost but not quite like telepathy.

"Can you go easy on Drats? She's been forced to evolve and can't fight yet! Just hit her once and she'll play dead. Please?" Drats was still shaking, and Vaiel decided to reassure the frightened dragonair and tell her her plan.

"Look, Drats, when he hits you, just pretend to faint. You shouldn't be here." Vaiel's only response from the frightened Dragonair was a shaky nod. Meanwhile, Slaze had replied.

"I will hit her once. If she even looks like she might fight back, I won't hesitate to go all out. You know I can't risk getting hit." Vaiel understood. Shedinja were notorious for their low endurance.

* * *

><p>"<em>How the hell did he get my number?" <em>Saturn furiously thought.

"Truce? Why? And how did you get this number?"

* * *

><p>The tinny voice that emerged from Saturn's speaker didn't change in tone or volume, but it was the content, not the delivery of the reply that made Saturn's heart skip a few beats.<p>

"_Just give my regards to Pluto."_

* * *

><p><em>As soon as Aron's eyes had closed, he was looking at a starlit sky. Abruptly sitting up, he wildly threw furtive looks around him before he realised he was in his 'dream' again. Prodding Janice lightly, he asked her a question that had been bugging him since he had read that article on her life. <em>

"_...agrnnfblt...huh? Aron? Oh...I didn't realise I'd fallen asleep." came Janice's confused response to being woken._

"_Jaince, I need to know, did you ever, before I told you, ever consider the idea that the sun wasn't the biggest star in the sky?"_

"_No. Why should I? That was what everyone was taught. Anyone thinking otherwise was branded as crazed and delusional, so no one did."_

_Aron pondered the meaning of her words. By her own admission, the idea that the sun was not the biggest star in the sky had solely come from him. But he had learnt that from his teacher, who had learnt it from her teacher...the chain of events all linked back to Janice's first proposition that the sun was merely the closest star to earth. But that meant that, in a sense, he had taught himself that fact. Where had the knowledge come from in the first place? The idea seemed to have no origin._

_He was snapped out of his brooding by a bright white light that had emerged from the stone. As he shielded his eyes with one hand while shaking Davis awake with the other, he became subconsciously aware of another...something...in the area._

_The three watched as the light eventually faded, leaving a mostly white and yellow pokemon in the place of the purple gem. It (probably a she, Aron mused,) had a white body, with what resembled a yellow crown on her head and yellow streamers trailing from her back. Three blue tags dangled from the tips of her 'crown'. She opened her eyes and stared at the three humans watching her for a moment._

_Aron didn't know what he was expecting Jirachi to say, but it wasn't this. "Hi! You wanna be friends?" _

_Deciding to be diplomatic, Aron replied, "Yeah, why not?" It was only after he had replied that he noticed Janice and Davis looking at him in confusion._

_"Er, Aron...what did she just say? And what did you just say? Don't tell me you can understand her!" Davis asked._

_Aron's eyes widened. Now that he thought about it, it had dawned on him that Jirachi wasn't speaking English. But how could he, and not Davis or Janice understand her then? The answer dawned on him. He spun around to face Davis._

"_Davis, have you ever heard of English?"_

_"English? No...what's that? Some kind of game?"_

_Davis' confused reply confirmed Aron's suspicions. "Then tell me, what language are we speaking?"_

"_Err...Latinos?"_

_Realising that an explanation would be useful right now, Aron sighed. "Ok...I think I know why I can understand her and speak her language. You see, I didn't realise that you were speaking Latinos until you told me you were. I thought you were speaking English, my language, and that I was also replying in my language. Basically, I reckon that something is translating everything I hear and say into or from your languages. It certainly explains why I can understand her._

"_Cool, it's like you've got your own invisible Babel Fish in your ear or something!" Janice gushed._

"_What? What's a Babel Fish?"_

_Janice looked confused. "I dunno...what did I just say?"_

_Meanwhile, Jirachi was deep in thought. "How did you understand me? Everytime I've woken, I've had to learn the current language, but you seem to know Solaecon."_

_Aron sighed again. "It's a long story..."_

* * *

><p>Fantina watched with a little concern as Slaze swooped down at the dragonair that her opponent had sent out. For some reason, his technique was all wrong.<p>

"_It's...as if he doesn't want to hurt her..." _Her suspicions were confirmed when her shedinja pulled off one Fury Swipe, but it was so weak and badly aimed it barely grazed the dragonair. Suspicion turned into confusion, however, when the dragonair fainted.

"_What? No pokemon should have fainted to such a weak attack...she has to be faking. But why? Is it because she didn't want to fight? No trainer should force their pokemon into battle. At least it's finished now."_

The other trainer was yelling at his dragonair. Fantina felt her face grow hot. "Can you not see she has fainted? No? Then you are no trainer to me! Leave! You will not get your precious badge until you know when your pokemon are too tired to battle! And never force a pokemon into battle again! Begone!"

* * *

><p>Rynade was lounging around in his room when his phone rang.<p>

"Hello?"

"Rynade. Why are you at home? And where the hell is Pluto?"

Rynade paled. The fact that Saturn had finally gotten his name right meant nothing to him.

Rumbled.

* * *

><p>Saturn had called the three remaining commanders into his office. He had put Giovanni on hold, and having found out that Rynanade had given his job to the only spy in his ranks rankled him. As Titan walked in, he said,<p>

"Sir! I was just about to come myself! I have good news!"

"Later." Saturn waved him off casually with one hand, before turning on the loud speaker and taking Giovanni off hold again.

"Now that you have checked with your...sources...you are probably wondering where she is, yes?" Giovanni's voice came out of the speaker, dripping with sarcasm.

"I know you have her." Saturn said while holding his hand out to silence the protestations he knew would come from Phobos, Deimos and Titan.

"You _are_ perceptive. But I'm not here to gloat. You see, we know all you know about Arceus, and personally, I have my own reasons for seeking him out. Seeing as we're both heading for the same prize, why don't we pool our resources?"

Saturn clenched his fists. "Why should we? You're mostly operating in Kanto and Johto, and have barely and agents here. How can you help anyway?"

"You assume that Arceus is in Sinnoh. Where is he? How do you know if he even spends most of his time on Earth?"

* * *

><p>Rob was furious. He left Hearthome city and quickly healed his pokemon at the nearby Pokemon Centre before heading south towards Route 212.<p>

"_I need to train."_

* * *

><p>"Ston, use Thundershock!" Sean's magneton promptly obeyed as a lightning bolt struck the marill they had been fighting. Sean sighed. He was reasonably certain that his pokemon could take Fantina on, but there wasn't any point in challenging the Hearthome Gym at the moment, as he'd still be stuck in Hearthome.<p>

"You!" Startled, he spun around to find himself with a trainer whom he recognised. Thinking back, he remembered that this was the trainer that had been so merciless towards Lael...Rob.

"I want to battle you again! I need to train! I need to get —ing better!"

"_Woah...something must have shaken him up badly...and he's still has those weird holes in his sentences." _Sean thought.

"Fine. Let out your pokemon." Rob let out the four pokemon that had fought Sean in Canalave, and a fifth. Sean tilted his head in confusion.

"A dragonair? I didn't know you had one..."

Rob smirked. "I do, now Zask, you know what to do."

The ninjask in question flew out, waiting for Sean to release his pokemon and then pick his first pokemon. _"Is he just going to use the same strategy? Well...I know a way to stop him in his tracks." _"Skiera...come over here. You're going out first, but I've got a plan for you."

Rob watched suspiciously as his opponent whispered into the skarmory's ear. "We haven't got all day, you know!"

"Look, Skiera, the easiest method to screw him up would be to use taunt, but then you'll just have to face one pissed off, super fast and Sword Danced ninjask. I have a better idea. We'll just let him waste his fancy stat-boosters. Just..."

As Skiera finally left her trainer's side to face Zask, both trainers looked at each other to start the battle. It was common convention for both trainers to count down from three together when there was no referee to start the battle for them.

"3."

"2."

"1."

* * *

><p><em>One tiring and extremely longwinded explanation later, Aron was lying next to Jirachi with Janice and Davis as they stared at the sky. <em>

"_And here it comes..." Jirachi murmured in Latinos. It hadn't taken long for her to read Davis' mind to grasp the current language being spoken. Aron was about to ask her what she meant when a comet came into sight. It's head radiated a pure white light as it's tail tapered off into light greens and blues, with wisps of...something...trailing off the tail as it zoomed above them. Aron, Janice and Davis were all enraptured by the sight of something so magnificent streaking above them. _

"_You know...this is when you make your wishes..." Jirachi said. Aron started._

"_You mean you CAN give wishes?" _

"_Of couse, but you've got to think quickly, because once that comet is out of sight, that moment is lost. My power is at its strongest when it is closest to me."_

"_I...I wish that I will be remembered for my achievements. That people will listen to me and my theories, even though they're blasphemous." Janice said._

_Davis was next. "I don't wish for anything. I already have everything I want, and wishing for something extreme like excessive amounts of money or fame would dampen my happiness. No. I wish that the Millennium Festival and your legacy will always be remembered. It would be sad to think that every time you awoke, there would be no one around to meet you, because the Millennium comet isn't quite that, is it? It was three months too early."_

_Aron was dumbfounded. __"Is that why I'm here? It's the only reasonable explanation." _

_Jirachi's mouth was open. "Thank you, Davis. I never expected for someone to wish for the good of someone else."_

"_Of someone else..."_

"_Aron...what about you? Think quickly!"_

"_I..."_

_"_Of someone else..."__

* * *

><p>Giovanni hung up. The details of their truce had been laid down. They were to work together to find Arceus, and share his power between the two teams.<p>

Giovanni smirked.

"_As if I'm going to share Arceus. He is mine, and only mine!"_

* * *

><p>Saturn hung up. The details of their truce had been laid down. They were to work together to find Arceus, and share his power between the two teams.<p>

Saturn smirked.

"_As if I'm going to share Arceus. He is mine, and only mine!"_

"Err...sir?"

Slightly distracted, Saturn gave his default reply to the question. "Hmm?"

"We've cracked the code. The scientist was Sonya Tanem."

"Oh, the irony!" Saturn threw back his head and laughed. "We crack the code and find out who she was just when we call a truce with possibly the only other person who could give us this information. Any more enlightening information for us? Maybe you'll be able to tell us where Pluto is!" Saturn sarcastically replied. He was in a foul mood, and the three commanders all knew it.

"We also know where she is currently living."

That got Saturn's attention. "What? Where? We need to catch her, and soon! Giovanni might find the charmander first, but he has lost track of who we really need to find!"

"With all due respect, sir, but what if he doesn't know where she is? We have a much better hacking division than Team Rocket, and Unova's airport authorities and government forces use a much more secure coding algorithm for their processes."

This puzzled Saturn. "Then how were you able to find her whereabouts so quickly?"

Titan sniffed, still slightly offended. Still, one did not become a commander by staying offended around the boss for long. "We found a back door. Their encryption processes are rock solid, but we managed to get an agent to install a back door into their servers. Everything else after that was child's play."

"_Hmm...so we still have information that Giovanni doesn't have."_

* * *

><p>"Anyone feel like going to Eterna City?" Morgan asked her pokemon, who all responded cheerfully to her question.<p>

_"We might even get to see some snow, which'll look great in print..." _she thought to herself as she absentmindedly fingered her camera.

* * *

><p>"Go."<p>

Vaiel started with her standard Quick Attack-Substitute combo to get away and begin setting up, but instead of trying to attack him, Skiera swept her wings towards the ground and her eyes started glowing red. Several rocks rose out of the ground and floated menacingly around Vaiel and her substitute. Next, Vaiel baton passed to Zask, who upon entering was pounced by the rocks. After several seconds where only grinding noises could be heard, Zask came out, but looking decidedly the worse for wear. One of his wings was torn and he was flying a little lower compared to when he was just watching the battle. Promptly, he begain Swords Dancing as Skiera started scattering spikes across the field. Both pokemon repeated their moves two more times each before changing their plans.

"_What is he doing? His pokemon is actually letting me set up! Sure, those hazards look like they'll hurt, but only Zask will be seriously hurt by the Stealth Rocks, and I won't need to switch him in more than once, anyway." _Rob thought.

Zask performed a Baton Pass — Vaiel didn't need to swap in as Skera hadn't attacked the substitute yet — as Skiera swooped around the battlefield whilst her eyes glowed red again. This time, a sandstorm brewed. Rai winced as he stepped on the spikes, the sandstorm battered him and the rocks dived in on him, and he instantly felt weaker. Nevertheless, he used the thundershock that he knew Rob would want him to perform. The problem was that he couldn't see where Skiera was. Generally, he was extremely accurate, but if he couln't see where to aim, then how was he going to hit his target? Nevertheless, he shot a Thundershock in the general direction of Skiera, which seemed to miss, as a huge gust of wind blew him out of the battlefield in reply. Rai instantly got up to try again when he realised that Vaiel had been blown into the battlefield.

Rob paled when he realised what Sean's strategy was. "Whirlwind."

* * *

><p>"Sir?"<p>

"Kova. Our situation has changed slightly. You are still to hunt for the charmander, but if you see anything that might help us with finding Arceus, then you are to take it by any means possible. We are now allied with Team Galactic."

* * *

><p>"<em>I wish Steven was still alive." Aron wished.<em>

* * *

><p>Steven was just settling back into bed beside Aron when he felt a presence beside him. Turning around to look, he saw a small orb of white light floating into the air. It flew into him, but before Steven could react, flew out almost immediately, before repeating its actions over and over again so it looked like the orb was bouncing on his black-feathered chest. Eventually, it seemed to stop, heading back into...<p>

"_Huh? Aron's bag?" _

Getting up and gliding over to the bag, he used his beak — with some difficulty — to open the zip. Inside, he could just make out a faint purple glow. Burrowing his head inside the bag, he found the source of the glow.

It was a purple gem.

* * *

><p>"<em>Huh?" Jirachi had said, a few moments after Aron's wish.<em>

"_What?" Aron asked worriedly._

"_I...I can't. I know who you're speaking of, Steven, who was your friend before he was killed by..." Her eyes widened. "By Arceus? What? Are you sure you remembered correctly?"_

_It dawned on Aron that she was reading his mind to make sense of his wish. "Yes...I'm sure. But what can't you do?"_

_With eyes full of sorrow, Jirachi turned to look at him. "I can't. For some reason, I can't bring him back to life. Believe me when I say I've done it before, once, and it was easy, but for some reason, I just can't. It's not like something's stopping me, but it's impossible."_

"_What? How can something be impossible when you have the power to grant any wish you are asked to grant?"_

"_I don't know. Wishes are supposed to do what I want them to. I can't think of a reason why I can't perform yours... I'm sorry."_

* * *

><p>Mew's deliberations were interrupted when she noticed a presence next door. Approaching the door to Aron's room and silently unlocking it psychically, she floated into the room so as to stay completely silent.<p>

She quickly flew over to where she sensed the presence was coming from, and noticed that it had drastically weakened by the time she reached the boy's bag. She put her hand inside...

* * *

><p>Steven could have sworn he heard the door swing open, but he hadn't heard it unlock. Puzzled, he began to worm his way out of Aron's bag...<p>

* * *

><p>...to grab something feathery.<p>

_"?" _Mew thought.

Pulling out Steven, who looked just as surprised to see her, she realised that she was still hovering. Quickly placing her feet on the ground and praying that Steven hadn't noticed her floating, she reached her other hand into Aron's bag, ignoring the struggles of the taillow she held in her left hand.

This time, she pulled out a purple gem.

* * *

><p>Steven had been silently struggling to get out of her grasp, but didn't want to wake Aron lest he see them both looking around in his bag. Still, he was surprised when the mysterious girl also pulled out the purple gem, as if she had been looking for it. However, what she said next was definitely suspicious.<p>

* * *

><p>Mew knew what the purple gem was.<p>

"Jirachi..."

Turning towards the now still taillow, she chuckled. "Looks like I'm definitely coming with you guys then."

If she had bothered to read Steven's mind at the moment, she would have heard him think, _"What does she mean? How does she know what that gem is?"_

* * *

><p>The battle hadn't lasted long. With Skiera's sandstorm lowering Rai's visibility so badly he was reduced to taking potshots at her, and with none of Rob's other pokemon capable of placing a sizeable dint in her health, she kept on using Whirlwind to whittle down the health of Rob's pokemon or using Sandstorm again when the current one seemed like petering out. Zask had immediately fainted among being blown in once, and all the other pokemon had been sent in at least once, Scythe twice, before Rai had finally hit Skiera with thunderbolt, instantly knocking her out.<p>

Rob's joy was shortlived, however, when Sean sent in his bronzor and it exploded, destroying the substitute that had proved so useless in preventing the damage that the spikes, sandstorm and Stealth Rock had dealt towards his team. Sean had then sent in his Magneton, who had managed to paralyze his dragonair (who had been in when the substitute had been destroyed by the explosion) before he sent in Scizor, who also got paralysed, all because of repeated Thunder Wave attacks. Having been ordered to use Close Combat, Scythe rushed at the floating Magnet Pokemon, who waited until he could see the scizor approaching before letting off a huge storm of electricity. Scythe recoiled a little, but nevertheless managed to knock Ston out with his Close Combat. Rob was feeling great then, as he had only lost one pokemon to Sean's three. However, that was part of Sean's plan all along. Rob could only watch as Sean sent in his lucario just as the sandstorm subsided, who then proceeded to knock out his extremely weakened scizor with an Extremespeed. Realising that by switching them in, all of his remaining pokemon would be easily knocked out by another Extremespeed, Rob forfeited.

* * *

><p>Having won the battle, albeit at the expense of three of his pokemon, Sean was overjoyed. He was walking back in the direction of Hearthome city with Lael by his side when he heard Rob's voice.<p>

"—ing useless. Why the — do I even bother training you, huh? You guys are all so —ing useless!"

Shocked, Sean ran back to see Rob raving at his three remaining pokemon. He was just in time to see his vaporeon yell something at the dragonair before leaping at her trainer, knocking him to the ground and removing two pokeballs from his belt, before running off with them. Having overheard the conversation, Lael dashed from Sean's side, grabbing the dragonair's tail, who was frozen in shock, and dragging her after the vaporeon.

"What the?"

Sean had no choice but to run after his pokemon.

He didn't look at Rob, who was struggling to get to his feet, or to the raichu, as he ran past.

"_Jeez Lael, What is your major malfunction?"_

* * *

><p>Lucas was overjoyed. He had finally mastered Transform, and was currently walking around in his human form. However, he noticed that his abilities still stayed with him, and when he pointed his pokedex at himself, it still recognised him as a mew.<p>

It was then he made his decision. He called Lear over.

"_What do you want me for?"_

"I don't want to risk getting caught by a pokeball. I'm trusting you to let me out after I catch myself, ok?"

This time, Lear replied by speaking. "Fine. You have no reason to doubt any of us, you know."

Lucas pulled a spare pokeball out of his bag while sighing. "Yeah, I know. Just in case."

* * *

><p>Lear watched as his trainer disappeared in a beam of red light, the ball landing on the ground with a <em>thunk<em>.

Walking over, he released his trainer, who was looking quite shaken.

"Is that what you see every time I put you into a pokeball? Just black? How didn't you go crazy from the boredom?"

Lear shook his head, chuckling. "You didn't spend long enough inside...You can make whatever you like, but since you've never been inside, there was nothing inside."

"Oh."

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, the irony. Don't hate me for making Aron's wish useless (after all, it's fair, if you think about what is going to happen)! You guys are smart, so you should realise why Jirachi couldn't fulfill Aron's wish.<strong>** Hope you got my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and TF2 references!**

**azure blue espeon: Well, you didn't get much of Lucas, but Mew featured a little bit. Hope you liked her rant about what she knew Aron knew and what she didn't know...etc.**

**leygose: Thanks for pointing out my failed pagebreak. As for Nick, I've PM'd you some clues, can you pierce them together?**

**ej92: I always thought that the best place to start was the beginning, and Morgan barely appeared this chapter because...I needed her in Eterna, but that was it. Schoolwork does suck.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Isrea is super suspicious. She even suspects YOU!**

**Tsaukpaetra: Thanks for the encouragement.**

**thewookie1: I hadn't felt sorry for Rob, but he was really given the short end of the stick this chapter, huh? He needs come coffee, and soon. At least things will only get better for him...OR WILL THEY?11one**

**Cyberfire22: If? No, when they decide to stay together. Before anyone else wonders whether Gary Stu will be making another appearence, the answer is no.**

**baaabuuu: Well, I'd say 1337|-|axROFLMAO, but that's just me. XD**

**valeforXD: I dared. I love unintended puns, by the way.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Wow, that wish sure was useless.<strong>

**Alexa: Uh huh. I didn't get to do much this chapter...**

**Steven: HA! Now you know how I felt in chapter...err...**

**Firael: If you can't remember what chapter it was, then why're you still so cut up about it?**

**Rush: Actually, it was chapter 4. OW Firael, why'd you hit me?**

**Steven: Oh yeah! Now you know how I fel-**

**Vendel: WE GET THE POINT! How do you think I feel? I've barely appeared in the last three chapters!**

**Firael: Touche.**


	22. Leading Tone

**Disclaimer: Glass Balls are not made of glass.**

* * *

><p>Panting and out of breath, Sean had finally managed to catch up to Lael, who had just dragged his opponent's dragonair after that vaporeon. As he ran, Sean tried to think up of possible explanations as to why his lucario had decided to run off like that.<p>

He reached a clearing where the three seemed to be talking. Upon seeing him approach, the vaporeon nodded at him before padding off with the dragonair slithering after her. Resignedly looking at Lael, Sean sighed.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do when we get back to Sharon."

* * *

><p>Rai couldn't believe what Vaiel had just done. She had mentioned to him that she had considered running away, but Rai had never believed that she was serious, but just venting off some steam. What was even more surprising was the fact that she had taken Drats with her, and also because that other lucario had helped Vaiel escape.<p>

* * *

><p>Kova was sick of his current assignment. He had covered most of the area south of Snowpoint, because, despite all of Giovanni's assurances that Snowpoint would be the last place a charmander would go, the charmander he was chasing would be thinking like a human, who could have headed to the most unlikely hiding spot. Kova didn't want to search the entirety of Sinnoh before finding that blasted charmander in the one place his boss had told him not to look. He was almost finished, and would be at Eterna City in a week or so, as he wanted to have a quick look over Eterna Forest before reaching the City.<p>

* * *

><p>As Sean started to make his way back to Hearthome City, he was confronted by Rob, who was physically blocking the pathway, eyes glinting dangerously.<p>

"Where are my vaporeon and dragonair?"

Sean took a step back putting his arms in front of him. "I don't know!"

"Don't lie to me! I saw your lucario run off with them! Why is she here, then, if you don't know where they went? You must have found her with _them_!"

Sean decided to tell a half-truth. "I don't know where they are. I don't know why my lucario ran off with them, and even though I found her eventually, I don't know where your pokemon have gone, and, to the best of my knowledge, neither does she." Beside him, Lael nodded in agreement.

Rob seemed to acknowledge this, and walked away stiffly. Sean couldn't be sure just how much the lost of two of his pokemon had hit him, but he knew that the other trainer was taking the shock badly.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the mystery girl approached Aron and Isrea as they were eating breakfast in the in-house restaurant.<p>

"Figured you'd be here. Anyway, I've been considering my options, and, seeing as I've really got nothing to do at the moment, I've just been wondering whether I could come with you guys or not." she said, staring at Aron with an intense expression.

"Sure!" Aron said, before scratching his head.

* * *

><p>"<em>What? Is Aron really that gullible?" <em>Steven wondered. As much as he would have liked to have had the girl join them, it was a little worrying if Aron could be roped into agreeing so easily to a suggestion which should have warranted some thought.

"_At least Isrea should put up some resistance..."_

Sure enough, Isrea's eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she pointed an accusing finger at the other girl.

"That's nice. What happened to the girl who was only too happy to send us on our way? What's with your sudden change in attitude, huh? Anyway, you don't look like a trainer, and you're too young to be in uni, so why aren't you at school?"

The girl seemed reasonably unfazed. "Oh, there are a few reasons, mostly of which have to do with the...gngtfhgthzbtzzz..."

Steven shook his head in confusion. Why had the girl suddenly started spouting nonsense? After a few seconds of gibberish, the girl seemed to slip back into english.

"...ybthjnkfzzz and I guess that basically explains everything, right?"

"Hmm?" Isrea said. "Oh...yeah! It makes sense now..."

"So I can come with you guys?"

"Yeah, why not?" Mystery girl was speaking again.

"_What?"_

"Cool. By the way, I'm Myu."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Sharon, I need you're awesome translating abilities! Some really weird stuff happened this afternoon." Palkia looked up to see Sean walk from the door of the ward she was in. Quickly finishing her dinner, she replied through mouthfuls of dry pokemon centre food (cooking was never taught to Nurse Joys, so everything was microwaved).<p>

"Mmph. Ok, just let me finish this off. What happened?"

"Ok. Basically, I was just training when that trainer in Canalave city, Rob — You know, that guy who wanted his raichu to thundershock Lael after boosting himself?" Receiving a nod in reply, Sean continued. "Well, I met him again, and he seemed quite beat up about something, and challenged me to a battle, which I won when he forfeited. What was weird was that after he lost, he let out all of his pokemon who hadn't fainted and started abusing them. Soon after, his vaporeon ran off, calling out to his dragonair as she ran off. What was weird was that Lael then ran off as well, grabbing the dragonair and dragging her away from Rob. I eventually found them talking, and the two pokemon pretty much ran off after seeing me, leaving me with just Lael."

Palkia put two and two together. "And you want to know why she did that?"

Sean nodded. "Uh huh. Lael, care telling us what happened from your perspective?"

* * *

><p>Something was wrong here. Steven glanced frantically at the faces of Aron and Isrea, who didn't seem to realise that they'd somehow been manipulated. Glaring at Myu, he gave an angry squawk in her direction.<p>

She winked back.

"_Later," _she mouthed.

* * *

><p>"It's actually really simple." Lael was saying, with Palkia acting as an interpreter. "Basically, I saw the vaporeon — her name is Vaiel, by the way — and she ran off, yelling at the dragonair to follow her. I didn't really understand why she did so, but it looked like the dragonair was too scared to do anything, so I had to at least help. After all, if it turned out that the dragonair didn't want to follow Vaiel, then I could always take her back. After all, Vaiel didn't actually know any offensive moves."<p>

"Okay. That explains why you ran off, but why did they leave in the first place?"

Lael nodded. "I'm just getting to that. Apparently, Rob had owned another pokemon previously, a charmander. Basically, he lost her to a member of Team Rocket, and whilst before he had been an amazingly good trainer, both in and out of battle, he quickly deteriorated, and started to resort to only one strategy: Baton Passing. As he started to lose more and more battles as his opponents got better and better, he started abusing his pokemon more and more, blaming them for losses that weren't particularly their fault. This, coupled with the fact that he had forced his baby dratini to evolve into a dragonair and started using her in battles without training, made Vaiel call it quits."

Sean had one last question. "Do you actually know where they went?"

"West. That's all they said. I don't know any more."

* * *

><p>Still fuming over the loss of his pokemon, Rob had immediately bought a bicycle and headed straight for Eterna Forest, where he knew several ghost pokemon were. After being defeated so soundly by them, he wanted to catch one. He looked up at the towering mass of Mount Coronet to his right as he headed for its easiest pass.<p>

"_Why? Why did they leave me? What did I do wrong?"_

* * *

><p>That night, as Aron lay asleep, exhausted from a day of walking towards Oreburgh City, Steven was woken up by Myu prodding him. Being careful not to wake Aron up, Steven followed Myu's beckoning a clump of trees nearby<p>

After checking that they were out of earshot, Myu turned around to face him, a knowing smirk on her face.

"So, Steven, I see that you still don't trust me, huh?"

* * *

><p>Rynade was miserable. He had been demoted to Grunt status following the whole fiasco involving Pluto and her kidnapping. He had been assigned to Jubilife City to help search for that charmander that both Team Rocket and Galactic wanted. It sounded like a boring job and probably was.<p>

He sighed.

"_Might as well enjoy my last 5 days here..."_

* * *

><p>At Sumachi's Sushi Best Bar, Sonya was late for lunch again. Quickly ordering 3 sushi to takeaway, she fidgeted nervously as the cashier processed her order. Upon receiving it, she rushed out of the bar, intent on making it back to Plasma Enterprises before lunch break finished.<p>

She didn't notice the hooded figure watching her from the corner, quietly savouring an udon.

* * *

><p><em>Alexa and Firael rarely dreamt. Rather, they repeatedly found themselves in their 'clearing' with Warning occasionally butting in whenever he felt like doing so. Over the past month or so, Alexa had become to look more and more like Firael, with the shape of her face changing, and a small amount of orange and cream fuzz developing on her skin. Her irises had also begun growing larger, and there was very little left of the whites of her eyes.<em>

_They never talked about her appearance any more, instead preferring to discuss the events that had happened that day, or talk about their pasts. It was only when both of them decided to 'sleep' that they would both have dreams, which they shared._

* * *

><p>Steven instantly reacted. Jumping out of Myu's hands and heading for the door, he found himself instantly stop about a metre away from their camp. It wasn't that he couldn't move his wings, but that they seemed to have no effect on his position in relation to the tents he was trying so hard to reach. No matter how hard he flapped, he couldn't move.<p>

He was 'spun' around to face Myu again, whose eyes were glowing a bright purple. Steven's brain went into overdrive, before connecting the dots.

"_Her knowing my real name...that conversation I overheard her talking to herself in...her behaviour around that stone...her sudden decision to follow us...Aron's and Isrea's strange behaviour around her...her name...__**her name!**__"_

"Mew? What the hell?"

* * *

><p><em>"Golbat, use Confuse Ray on this charmander every hour. That should stop her from trying to run away." Alexa heard the words, as if through thick wool, drift into hearing.<em>

**_"Ugh...what's happening?" _**_she asked Firael, whom she knew was experiencing the same feelings as her._

**_"This...was the day I was captured..." _**_came the reply._

_Alexa saw that she was being carried by a man who had a golbat flying along beside him. At the same time, she noticed that she was in her humanoid form instead of being a charmander. Then, the orbs from the golbat's Confuse Ray hit her. Suddenly, everything became distorted..._

_The colours started to shift..._

_Her body begun to change..._

_The golbat superimposed itself on the trainers head, until it was the golbat looking at her, with a disembodied human head floating beside him...it._

**_"I don't remember it being like this..."_**_ Firael mused in her head._

_Looking at herself, she saw that she had returned to her human form. The golbat let out a ear-shattering shriek._

_"This is not you!"_

_Alexa wanted to cover her ears, but she still couldn't move._

_"THIS IS NOT YOU!"_

_She was thrown to the ground, and the disembodied head floated down to stare into her eyes._

**_"What are you?"_**

* * *

><p>"Sir, we have located the scientist. Commence operation?"<p>

"Yes."

Saturn recorded the call and sent it to Giovanni. After all, he couldn't withhold all his information from Giovanni, could he?

* * *

><p>Myu smiled happily. "At least you figured it out without any prompting. So yeah, I got a little bored, so I gave my job to someone else for a bit and now I'm here!"<p>

Steven was a little surprised by her reason for being here. "You mean...you were...bored, so you just left and came here? Who did you give the job to-" He shook his head in confusion. "How could you just give your job away?"

"Oh, I just turned someone else into a mew. It wasn't that hard. And you have NO idea how boring it is just hanging around my island...I can't do anything because Arceus could randomly ask me to help at any given moment, and so I was seriously BORED."

"But who did you give it to?"

"Oh...ahh...Lucas..." came the hesitant reply.

"What?"

* * *

><p><em>Alexa and Firael woke up simultaneously. Hearts thundering in their ribcages, they hugged each other for comfort.<em>

_"That..."_

_"I know...I know..."_

* * *

><p>Sonya trudged wearily out of the Plasma Enterprises building she worked at. Since meeting Aron and Alex-Firael, she had felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her back. She still felt that she hadn't fully redeemed herself, but at least she had tried.<p>

After all, wasn't that what truly mattered?

Sonya joined in with the crowds, heading for the nearest subway station.

* * *

><p>Five days after receiving the green light from Giovanni, Titan had planned out the method of the kidnapping of his target. The main problem he faced was the path his target took to and from work. Not once would she cross into a secluded area, which made a forced kidnapping extremely hard to pull off. Instead, Titan had decided that he would need a plan where the large amount of people around would work to his advantage.<p>

A novel solution was required.

* * *

><p>A prick on the right side of her neck. Instantly bring her hand to her neck, she felt a small amount of blood. Spinning around towards the right, she found herself faced with a huge crowd of people milling about. Nothing seemed out of place.<p>

"_Weird...I could have sworn..."_

* * *

><p>After he and his team had failed to catch that charmander, Nogen's squad had been placed on the backburner for a little. Eventually, they had been given this assignment. Nogen had been determined not to fail this mission.<p>

Sneaking up to her, he walked so he was on her left side, just behind her, before unwrapping the autoinjector he had prepared for this mission (it was based on the EpiPen, used by people with severe allegies) and jabbing it into the right side of her neck, reaching round awkwardly to do so. As soon as the spring-loaded sedative had been injected into her neck, he ripped out the autoinjector and walked past her left as she turned towards her left. His part was finished. Now for the easy bit.

* * *

><p>Several minutes after feeling the prick on her neck, Sonya was waiting at the subway for the subway. When it arrived, she half-stumbled into the interior of the train, yawning furiously.<p>

"_Jeez...I must be more tired than I thought..."_

With that thought, she collapsed on the nearest person and started snoring.

* * *

><p>Nogen watched from a safe distance as his target collapsed into the arms of one of his men. He smirked.<p>

"_Too easy...now we've just got to 'help' her off the subway when we get to the next station."_

Opening his mobile, he quickly dialed Titan.

"Target secured. Meet us outside Mizumo station."

* * *

><p>Nearly a week after meeting Myu, Aron, Isrea and Steven found themselves in front of the Orebrugh City Gym (Myu had wandered off to find accommodation for them). Apprehensively walking in, they emerged into an artifical cave, which took up about half of all the available space in the Gym. Walking through the cave to the door on the other end, they entered into a small waiting room, which, to Aron's surprise, looked rather like the waiting rooms found in Pokemon Centres.<p>

"I assume you're both here for a battle? If so, just leave your trainer ID's on the desk and take a seat. I'll scan your details in and call in Roark for you..." The receptionist said without looking up.

* * *

><p>"Ahh! That was a good battle! It was close, and you used your type effectiveness well! I must warn you, Bryon uses six pokemon in his battles, and he won't take pity on you just because you have less pokemon, yes? So I suggest that maybe a new pokemon or two would be useful, no?" Fantina exclaimed as Freya was knocked out of the arena by Ston's Gyro Ball.<p>

* * *

><p>Sean sighed. He was glad that the extra training he had been forced to do (because of Sharon's accident) had ended up paying off, as it had turned out to be an extremely close battle. Fantina did have a point, though. He didn't have a type advantage against Bryon, and he also still only had four pokemon, compared to the six that Bryon would use in his battle. Still, he was glad that he had finally earnt himself the Relic Badge and that Sharon had pretty much recovered.<p>

* * *

><p>"So you're the two new trainers come to challange me? I'm Rorak, by the way." Rorak said as he entered, holding a hand out to both of them. "I find it unlikely that either of you would be able to do much damage to my pokemon, since I've been battling for over 15 years, and your pokemon are still young. Still, it has happened before...I think..." He paused. "You know what? How about we get both of you done at once? Any of you feel like a double battle?"<p>

Aron and Isrea looked at each other, before Aron shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The three of them walked back into the arena that Aron and Isrea had walked into upon entering the gym. Taking their places, Rorak let out an aerodactyl and an onix.

* * *

><p>"Ugh," Steven remarked to Firael, Vendel and Rush, who had all just been let out. "Looks like only you've got the advantage here. Rush and I are gonna be pretty useless."<p>

Vendel, whom Steven had been pointing to, nodded. "But those two pokemon look impenetrable! I may be a water type, but I only know how to use bubble, which is going to do so much damage..." He finished sarcastically.

"May they cower in fear." Rush nodded, earning himself a smack over the head from Firael. "Oops. Any chance of Alexa making an appearance?"

"I am Alexa, you dolt! Firael's in here," Firael pointed at her head. "Yelling for your blood! You want me to let her out?"

"Oh. I didn't realise."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Aron and Isrea had been discussing their options. "Look, Rush and Scout aren't going to have much of an impact in this battle. D'you just want to start with them, and tell them to last as long as possible? It might tire those two", she gestured in the direction of Rorak's pokemon, " so that Vendel and Firael have a chance of downing one of the two...get them to go after the probopass? If they go after the areodactyl, Vendel and Firael won't be able to get it because probopass will just take them down."<p>

Isrea sighed. "Yeah, all right. Scout? Rush? Looks like you two are out first. Just try and stay up as long as you can, all right?"

* * *

><p>As Steven and Rush both flew onto the battlefield, the probopass made what Steven eventually recognised as a chuckling sound. "Flying-Normal types? What are your trainers thinking?"<p>

Rush glanced at Steven. "Ooookay...so I know Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Growl and Tackle. Big damage dealers right there. Especially Growl. You got any hidden tricks up your sleeve?"

Steven gave a mirthless snort. "Nah, unless you count Peck as one. I also know Focus Energy, but...hey...how about we just fly around growling at them? That would at least give Firael and Vendel a chanc- Watch out!" He was cut off as a yellow beam bore into the ground where he had just been standing. Having knocked Rush out of the way, he quickly whispered, "Yeah, we'll just avoid them and growl at them."

Rush took off. "Time for some fancy flying."

* * *

><p>"What are they doing?" Aron asked Isrea nervously as he watched his taillow narrowly get skewered by a Hyper Beam from the aerodactyl. The two bird pokemon took off opposite directions as the aerodactyl attempted landing on top of them. As they lifted off, they both let off twittering noises that sounded like...<p>

"Wait...growls?" Isrea asked confusedly.

* * *

><p>"Ahem... Grr!" Rush said, before laughing. "We sound so hopeless when we growl! It's actually quite funny."<p>

The aerodactyl didn't seem to agree. "Shut up! It's a bloody annoying sound!"

Rush smirked. "All the more reason for me to keep making it."

* * *

><p>"Err...Grr?" Steven tried. The probopass that he was looking flinched a little, but otherwise made no other movement. Then, he opened his eyes, which were glowing red.<p>

"_Huh...?"_ Steven thought, before seeing a small red target appear on his breast. _"What? What's this doing here!" _

The probopass spoke. "You can fly all you like, but I'm locked onto you. You can run, but you can't hide."

With that, he closed his eyes again and several white rings emerged from his body, before rocks started rising up from the ground. This was an attack Steven recoginised, having seen it in one of the days he spent over with Aron before he died.

"_Before I died...Oh crap. That's Stone Edge, isn't it? And don't taillow do badly against Rock moves? AHHH!"_

Of course, running was useless, but it wasn't like Steven had anything better to do. Then it struck him.

"_Of course..."_

* * *

><p>Rush was in a tight spot. For all the time he had spent play-fighting with Steven, this fight something else completely. Aerodactyl had his every move covered, and just seemed to be toying with him. At the moment, he was just barely staying out of his arms. He knew that once the aerodactyl grabbed him, he was one Sky Drop away from getting knocked out. If the Sky Drop didn't kill him, he didn't doubt that there would be some other follow up attack that would make sure he was knocked out.<p>

"_Ahh well, at least I can still growl back. The cool thing is that it hits both of his pokemon..."_

"Grr! My god, this is underwhelming."

* * *

><p>Steven looked behind him in panic. He saw the stones shoot forward from the probopass's position. Looking ahead, he saw aerodactyl chasing Rush. Narrowing his eyes, he dived for the aerodactyl.<p>

"For SPARTAAAAA!"

* * *

><p>Rush could hear the aerodactyl's breaths behind him. He was about to get caught.<p>

"For SPARTAAAAA!"

"_Huh?"_

Rush spun around just in time to see the aerodactyl make a grab at him...

* * *

><p>Steven realised that the aerodactyl was about to try snatching Rush out of the air. Instead of letting Rush get caught, he dived into the surprised aerodactyl's wing-arms.<p>

"What the-"

Then the rocks came.

* * *

><p>...before both the aerodactyl and Steven were blasted out of the air by a flurry of sharp rocks that seemed to have come from the probopass. Rush quickly flew down to check on both pokemon.<p>

Unsurprisingly, Steven was out cold. At first, the aerodactyl seemed to be knocked out as well, but slowly began getting up again.

"_Oh no you don't."_ Rush jumped on the aerodactyl's back and started hitting the aerodactyl's head repeatedly with his wings. Still woozy from being taken down by his teammate's stone edge, the aerodactyl didn't need to take much of a beating before finally being knocked out.

"YES! I'm AWESOME! I knocked out an aerodactyl!" Rush spun around to face the probopass, who he reckoned would have been pretty pissed off that his attack had done more damage to his own team than to his opponent.

"Thank you for standing still."

"_Huh?"_

He was just in time to see a yellow ball of energy come rushing at him. Unconsciousness was swift and welcomed.

* * *

><p>To Aron and Isrea's surprise, Roark started laughing. "Hahahaha! That was smart! You knew that none of your moves could take my pokemon out, so you had my pokemon attack each other! That was really good strategy!"<p>

Aron was still a little confused. "Err...I don't think that was our strat-ow! Hey!" He rubbed his ribs where Isrea had elbowed him, before speaking herself.

"Thanks! Firael, Vendel, I guess it's your turn now..." She said, as Aron withdrew Scout and Rush for her.

* * *

><p>"<em>Unnh...I feel like...huh? Where am I?" Steven glanced around warily. He was floating in a huge empty...space. Except that this 'space' didn't seem like one. It seemed as though he had just shrunk to about the size of a speck of dust, as he could still see Firael and Vendel battling Roark's Probopass and Steelix (and losing, obviously), but as he tried to fly upwards to get a better look, he bumped into a barrier.<em>

_He was even more disorientated when a huge hand started closing around him. Panicking, he retreated into the centre of his 'bubble', expecting the hand to crush him when it stopped. Apparently, the hand couldn't go past the barrier as well. He heard Aron's voice, strangely disembodied, drift through the barrier._

"_You know, I've heard that the pokemon in the new pokeballs can 'visit' each other if they're close enough. D'you reckon it'll work with a Glass Ball?"_

_So that was it. He was in his pokeball. With a bump, Steven saw his ball get placed next to a normal pokeball. Soon afterwards, a door superimposed itself over the ball._

"_Weird..." __Steven thought. Figuring that staying in his pokeball would be pretty boring and watching Firael and Vendel lose to Roark's pokemon was just going to be downright depressing, he flew through the door..._

* * *

><p>Firael and Vendel weren't doing too badly, as they hadn't been knocked out yet. However, none of their attacks were doing anything, and Firael seriously doubted that neither she nor Vendel had the manoeuvrability or the speed to pull off Steven's stunt again. Anyway, the probopass couldn't be that stupid. Thank goodness the growls that Steven and Rush had performed had reduced the probopass' strength to the point where only the steelix was a worry. In a sense, she mused, it was ironic that both she and Vendel were still faster than their foes, even though they were fully evolved. It made life much easier for them as they could avoid their attacks easier. Still, both she and Vendel were tiring.<p>

"Vendel! Let's go after the steelix! We're both super-effective on him, and if we climb on him he can't do anything, right?"

* * *

><p>"<em>How'd you get in here?" Rush yelled. Steven looked around himself confusedly. Instead of floating in 'space', the interior of Rush's ball was laid out in three parts, segregated into three even areas like a pie chart. The first was just an undulating series of hills with a few trees growing on them. The second was devoted to a huge obstacle course, with many hoops, pipes and moving obstacles that could block or allow passage depending on their position. The third was home to an extremely well kept garden, with only one stone door set in the ground. However, Steven realised he couldn't see what was happening outside the pokeball. Instead, blue skies extended over two of the three areas, with darker storm clouds over the garden section, leading off into the horizon.<em>

"_Uhh..." Steven mumbled, pointing a wing at the door that was still hovering, although it was completely suspended in midair as Steven could no longer see the outside world. However, if he could, he would have guessed that it would have been superimposed over the image of his own ball. "Through there?"_

"_Woah...that's cool." Rush murmured, staring at the door._

"_Yeah. I just overheard Aron and Isrea talking about how the newest types of pokeballs could allow travel between pokeballs, and when he put my pokeball next to yours, that door appeared, so I went through. How did you get so much stuff in here? My ball's empty."_

_Rush laughed. "Ha! That's cause you haven't decked it out yet. Have you actually tried to create anything in your ball yet?"_

_Touching his beak with his wing, as if deep in thought, Steven replied. "No...I haven't. Is that it? Being inside a pokeball is like being in limbo?"_

_Now it was Rush's turn to look confused. "Limbo?"_

"_Nevermind. So I just think of something and it appears? That IS cool."_

"_Yeah, it keeps you entertained, I guess. You know, you said you overheard Aron and Isrea talking while in your pokeball. How is that possible?" Rush asked._

"_Oh. Remember how I've got a different ball to you and Vendel? I think it's a feature of being in a glass ball, but I think I've only got a limited space to work with, as opposed to in here, where you've got...like forever...to work with." Steven gave a snort. "That didn't come out right..."_

"_Can I have a look?" Rush asked. _

"_Sure. You can help me with decoration as well."_

* * *

><p>Climbing up a steelix was easier said than done. Firael and Vendel had managed to avoid the wide arcing sweeps of the steelix's tail and had jumped on her back. However, her steel body didn't really offer any comfortable handholds apart from the spikes that stuck out from the hide of the steelix, but they were too far apart to really help with climbing, so it was only with great difficulty that Firael and Vendel climbed halfway up her body.<p>

"Look, I think we're high enough. Howabout we just attack here?" Vendel asked, out of breath. The steelix had started trying to shake them off, but they were holding on with relative ease.

"Yeah, why not? Aim for the cracks where the plates join." Getting a firm handhold on one of the several steel spikes jutting out from the steelix's hide, she began breathing fire into the ridge where two steel plates joined together.

A roar told her that their plan was working. Meanwhile, Vendel had also started shooting bubbles at the steelix. It wasn't long before the steelix feel to the ground and started shaking more violently in an attempt to buck them off. Grimly holding on, the two smaller pokemon persisted their attacks when suddenly, the shaking stopped.

"..."

"Is that it? I thought we'd have to be at this for a lot longer!" Firael hissed.

"Thank you for standing still."

"_Huh?"_

Vendel realised what was happening a split second before it happened. _"Ohshi-"_

The probopass formed a huge sparkling ball of electricity and launched it at his partner, right between where Firael and Vendel lay.

* * *

><p>"<em>This is cool. It does suck that you've got less space, but you can actually see and hear what's happening outside!" Rush was slightly distracted by a flash of light from the battle. "Looks like Firael and Vendel just got owned."<em>

"_Yeah...looks like they did." Steven saw both Vendel and Firael get blasted off the steelix. He also saw Isrea reach out to grab Rush's ball. "Hey, what happens when the connection is broke-"_

_As Rush's ball was moved out of range, Rush disappeared in a beam of red light __— much like the light seen when capturing or returning a pokemon —__ through the door, which then vanished._

"_Phew. I was afraid he'd get decapitated or something..."_

* * *

><p><strong>I admit, I got lazy when naming Mew Myu, which is just her Japanese name, but things are already confusing without another false identity being thrown into the mix, so at least the name is easy to relate to Mew.<strong>

**leygose: Thanks for pointing that out. And betaing your fic is easy. There isn't much to fix, really.**

**thewookie1: Rob doesn't get much action this chapter, but in the next one, he gets to *censored***

**azure blue espeon: No rant this chapter, I'm afraid, but at least the bad guys are getting their act together and doing stuff.**

**ej92 (does no one capitalize their names nowadays?): Because 100000 is an awesome number. Of course! Ever heard of Chekhov's gun? I try to use it as much as possible.**

**Cyberfire22: I never liked Baton Passing teams anyways. As for your guesses, my lips are sealed.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Oh, the dramatic irony is killing me. And the counting down thing worked better in this fic because battling isn't actually turn based.**

**Tsaukpaetra: Lampshading's a wonderful thing. I actually don't know. I think Jirachi lives inside the stone, but I don't know what the cannonical view on it is. If there isn't one, then I'll just say she lives inside the stone. It's not important anyway (but will it be?)**

**Shinymonkey8: Yes, it is. Proofreading is something every author should do before publishing *looks around menacingly* and the same goes for reviewing and readers. Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

><p><strong>Vendel: ...<strong>

**Steven: ...**

**Firael: ...**

**Alexa: ...**

**Rush: C-C-COMBO BREAKER!**

**Firael: GET HIM!**

**Rush: Eep.**

**Vendel: This isn't going to be pretty. I guess this is what happens when I start one of these end segments.**

**Warning: Warning: The next line is rated for Mature audiences and viewer discretion is advised.**

**Steven: Why?**


	23. Seeing

**Disclaimer: There is no road.**

* * *

><p>"Well, I would be lying if I said that this battle wasn't something special...huh?" Roark said as he shook hands with both Isrea and Aron after their battle. "Smart of you to use my pokemon's attacks against each other...but how did you know my probopass was going to use Lock On? It's not that commonly used anymore because of the amount of time you waste to execute it."<p>

"Err...well...I-" Aron began mumbling half-heartedly.

"Made a really lucky guess. We were kind of hoping for..." Isrea trailed off.

"...Your...Your probopass to get annoyed by our bird pokemon..."

"And so use Lock On! Yea, that was what we were thinking, wasn't it?" Isrea finished, a slightly frantic look on her face as she elbowed Aron in the ribs.

"Yeah...that's it."

"Well, I'm impressed." Roark said. "I rarely have to go to the pokemon Center these days to heal my pokemon, and I think the two of you throughly deserve this." He pulled out two badges from his pocket. It was flat and muffin shaped, with a hexagonal indentation in the middle. It was mostly a dark brown color with blue metal tracing the edges of the badge and the hexagonal indentation. "Here you go."

* * *

><p>"Did you win?" Palkia asked as Sean walked in, a triumphant smile on his face.<p>

Sean pulled a face. "Na, we got ravaged four pokemon to nil without managing to land a single hit on her pokemon. Of course I won! Why did you even need to ask?"

Celebi shook his head in despair. _"Why does this always happen to me? Why, god, why?"_

Palkia laughed. "Because you're so amazingly awesome against everyone that you've won before you battled them. Sure. So, where to next? I assume it's Canalave city, because isn't that the next gym's location?"

"You assume right. I'm taking tonight off, then we fly to Canalave on Skiera. She usually doesn't like carrying two, and we'll have to take rest stops on the way, but it's still way faster than any other method of transport we've got at the moment."

* * *

><p><em>Steven had previously had grand plans for the interior of his pokeball, but after creating a bed (to be honest, he had tried to be a little creative and had filled a huge box with down, which had been surprisingly comfortable) he realised just how sore and tired he was from the battle, and folded face-first onto his bed, snoring uproariously. <em>

_He was woken up by a dripping noise that came from the 'roof' (he had decided on an arbitary point in his ball as the roof; as the ball was rotated, the interior didn't rotate). Drearily opening his eyes and getting up from his sleeping position (when he first transformed, he had tried sleeping on his back. Once.) he tried to find the source of the dripping noise. Looking upwards, he saw a vibrant multicoloured liquid fall from the ceiling._

"_Woah...what is this stuff?__" Steven thought, as the dripping spreaded until it was raining the rainbow-coloured liquid._

_Before long, it had started to fill up the interior of the ball. Steven started to panic slightly. What if the ball completely filled up? Would he drown? Was it even possible to die when in a pokeball? By then, the ball was filled up to the halfway point, Steven nervously hovering over the pool of shifting colours and shapes._

"_I might as well dive in...it looks like the ball will fill up anyway...__" Steven thought, readying himself for the plunge. He swooped._

_And dived into the liquid with barely a splash-_

_Bliss. Silence._

_Complete silence. A total blackout of all the senses except for one feeling..._

_Absolute bliss._

* * *

><p>"Myu...when you said you'd find us some 'nice' accommodation, I didn't think you meant <em>this<em>." Aron and Isrea found themselves standing in front of the Topaz Hotel, one of the most expensive hotels in the region. Myu started laughing.

"Ha! You actually thought I booked us here? No. I just bought you here because we _could _stay here..." She said, to Aron's puzzlement, before turning away. "Nah, we're here." She led them to a more modest motel a few blocks down the street. After checking in, Aron jumped on the double bed.

"I call shotgun on the big bed!"

Isrea rolled her eyes. "Sure. But one of us has to sleep with you too. You still want the big bed?"

"..."

"I thought not."

* * *

><p>Rynade sighed as he finished packing. He really didn't want to leave on a wild goose chase, but he had to...<p>

Picking up his pokeballs, he walked towards the door of his house, heading for the Landing Bay in Veilstone City.

* * *

><p><em>When Steven woke up, it was as if the liquid had never been there. Nevertheless, he felt completely rejuvenated and refreshed from...whatever that had been. Climbing out of his bed, he wondered how he was going to get out of the ball.<em> _He vividly remembered Aron saying something about pokemon being able to exit their balls at will, but he didn't know how to._

_As soon as he started seriously considering methods of exit, another door appeared at the edge of the ball. It was similar, but not quite identical to the one he had used to enter Rush's pokeball...but Steven didn't really care. He flew through..._

_His beak was the first to disappear. He lost all feeling in his head, and it was spreading down his body..._

_Past his wings..._

_Past his talons..._

_Past his tail-_

Light.

"_Woah, so this is how it feels to be let out of your pokeball? It's weird..." _Steven thought as he appeared on another bed. Looking around, it looked like they were in a hotel or a motel room. Aron was blushing furiously, making Steven wish he had actually listened while he was in his Glass Ball

"So it's settled then. Myu and I will take the double and you can get the sofa bed." Isrea said cooly.

Aron threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine! I get the sofa then. Huh...hey, Scout, you're out!"

Steven shook his head and then dipped it in exasperation. He took off from the bed and flew off to get a better look at their room as Aron walked into the living room and started to unfold the sofa bed. Or tried to.

"Argh! How does this thing work?" Aron grunted. He had just taken the top cushions off and was trying in vain to pull the metal frame of the bed out. Interest piqued, Steven flew back to have a look. He almost laughed out loud when he saw why Aron couldn't pull out the bed. There was a small catch that had hooked onto the bed which Aron hadn't seen. Once unlatched, it would let the bed automatically unfold.

"Yes! Found it! If you just unscrew this here..." Aron started mumbling.

"_What? You don't need to unscrew anythi-"_

Clunk.

"Aron, what did you do?" Isrea called from the bedroom.

"I err...opened up the bed?"

"Opened up the bed? Are you crazy? You're taking the entire thing apart! Do you actually want to sleep on the floor tonight? Ugh..." Isrea slapped a hand to her face. "Do you know where that screw you took out went? There's just a catch right here which lets the bed out. It's an automatic release thingy. If we put the screw back where it belongs we should still be able to get it to work."

"Err...no...I forgot where it went." Aron said sheepishly, scratching his head.

Steven laughed, causing Myu and then Isrea to crack up as well. _"Trust Aron to fail to open something which is meant to open automatically."'_

* * *

><p>Mount Coronet hadn't done much for Rob's mood. He had traveled through the easiest pass with a large group of trainers (as Rai and Zask were no good against rock types, and he didn't want to tire out Scythe) but it had taken far too long for his liking. He was currently in Eterna forest, and quickly revised his hastily put together strategy for battling the ghost pokemon to be found at the Old Chateau.<p>

Although, to be honest, it wasn't much of one. He would have Rai whittle down the health of whatever pokemon he came across, and if he liked it, he would switch in Scythe, as the scizor would be able to tank pretty much whatever the weaker pokemon could throw at him.

* * *

><p>"Hey! I've found it!" Myu cried. Aron, Isrea and Steven all looked up as Myu showed them the screw they had been looking for.<p>

"Cool. Where d'you find it?" Isrea went over to inspect Myu's find.

"I found...err...o-n the...I can't remember where I did find it. Heh, it must have just jumped into my hand!" She winked at Steven.

"Showoff."

After finally managing to fix the bed up and packing all their stuff away, Steven headed out with everyone else for dinner. As they were walking, Steven asked Firael (Aron and Isrea had let out all their pokemon upon exiting the motel) what the multicoloured liquid was.

"Oh, that? That's just what you get when your ball gets put in those machines you see in the pokeball center. It's actually a little different for us, in our pokeball, two showerheads appear and we go under them. If we don't, then the ball starts filling up, so you can't really not be healed. It feels awesome though...you didn't know what it was?"

"Oh, so that was what that stuff was!" Rush butted in, while in the background, Vendel nodded his head in agreement.

"I was thinking the same thing too...I just didn't want to ask..." He mumbled.

* * *

><p>Where were some of the most picturesque locations near Eterna City?<p>

Morgan reckoned she had an idea, and was heading towards the Moss Rock in Eterna Forest. At the moment, she had all three of her pokemon out. Sonata, a chatot who seemed to be extremely sardonical at times (but it was hard to tell), who rode on her shoulder. Next to her, riding on Adele, sat Rynka her extremely hyperactive bellossom. To be honest, sometimes she didn't know how she would have dealt with Rynka if she didn't have Adele, her ninetales, who helped her keep Rynka, (and Sonata, occasionally) in line.

Currently, Rynka was happily bouncing on Adele's back, and seemed to be pestering her with an incessant stream of questions.

"Rynka, lay off Adele for a bit, won't you?" Morgan sighed. Her bellossom looked a little reproachful, but stopped and went silent, fidgeting with the hairs on Adele's mane as they walked through the sunlit forest.

Five minutes later, she started again.

"_Ugh. I don't know whether she actually remembers me telling her to stop or she's doing it on purpose." _Morgan thought wearily, as Sonata gave a low chuckle at Adele's moan of protest.

* * *

><p>After dinner that night, Isrea and Myu went to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>After dinner that night, Rush, Firael and Vendel went to sleep.<p>

Steven stayed up. Recently he'd noticed that Aron would feign sleep, waiting for everyone else to drift off, before silently getting up (carefully letting Firael and Steven slip off him; it was this that had woken him one night) and padding to his backpack and withdraw the stone, before truly going to sleep with it in the pocket of his pyjamas.

That stone...

"_What was it?"_

Over the past few days, Aron had come to the conclusion that he could possibly show Jirachi the stone that she transformed into for nearly a thousand years at a time. Hell, maybe she could reverse the 'spell' that made her transform into a stone in the first place.

So he fell asleep with the stone, and this time, _he began to dream again..._

* * *

><p>"Ugh." Celebi suddenly moaned, clutching his head.<p>

Palkia, who he was currently lying next to, tilted her head, concern etched on her face. Celebi then collapsed onto all fours, before being swept up by Palkia.

"What is it? What's wrong"

"I've...argh...it's my haed...it's swmimign...I can't see or hear stariaght...spaeaking norrrmmally...izz har...har..."

That got Palkia's attention. "Celebi! Sean...something's wrong with him!"

Leaping out of bed with Celebi cradled in her arms, Palkia quickly crossed to the other bed in their motel room. Shaking Sean awake, she quickly explained the situation to him.

"Sean! Celebi suddenly started complaining about...something...it looked like some sort of headache before he just fainted...we need to get him to a Pokemon Center!"

"Fzztgnmbl..who's Celebi?"

Palkia cursed herself. She had kept Celebi's name hidden from Sean and just called him Axew, like quite a lot of trainers, and was furious that she had, in the heat of the situation, let slip of something so incriminating. "Err... I meant Axew. Just said the wrong name there..."

Sean looked at her quizzically, but let it pass. "Right, let's go!"

* * *

><p><em>Aron found himself in the same clearing with Jirachi, David and Janice again. Jirachi looked puzzled when Aron realised that he had suddenly changed clothes again.<em>

"_Oh, don't worry, he must have just had another dream..." David told Jirachi, who nodded in comprehension._

_Aron reached into his pocket to pull out his stone, and did so, but what he pulled out wasn't the stone, but a semi-transparent copy of one._

"_Uh..." He looked back up._

_Freeze._

* * *

><p>Kova was furious. Why had he gone and told Giovanni that he had given Eterna Forest a quick search before going to Eterna city? Apparently, a 'quick' search wasn't enough, and he had to go over the entire forest again.<p>

Hearing a trainer nearby, he decided to head for them, because he was meant to check both trainers and wild pokemon. Personally, he would have thought that the rogue charmander would have gotten herself caught at the first opportunity, as she was in an unfamiliar environment and also had to adapt with being forced into the body of one. The natural thing any human would do (and it was what he would have done in her situation) was to just let herself get captured, trained until she was able to defend herself...before...

It didn't matter. He just reckoned that it was unlikely that she would still be wild, and as such, Eterna forest was the least likely place he'd find her.

_"For gods sake, she isn't going to be here!"_

* * *

><p><em>Several warning bells went off in Arceus' head as he realised that a huge power surge was emanating from Hearthome City and pouring into somewhere in Oreburgh City.<em>

_What was even more interesting was that nothing was happening in Oreburgh City. It was like there was a black hole which the energy was pouring into. But all that power had to go somewhere... energy couldn't just disappear, could it?_

_He went to Hearthome City first._

"_**Palkia, what's happening?**__" _Palkia jumped in surprise before recognising Arceus' voice.

"_Uh oh. If Arceus is getting himself involved, then this has to be bad. Well, basically, Celebi just...ahh, forget it, I'll just show you the memory."_

* * *

><p>"<em>That stone...huh? It's glowing!" <em>Steven thought as he stared at the purple gem that Aron had clenched in his fist.

"_Is...is that Aron's hand I can see? The stone...is becoming transparent?"_

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, but I don't have the facilities or the medical knowledge to help your axew. I would suggest flying to the veterinary hospital at Veilstone City or, if you can't fly, taking one of the ambulances there." Palkia nearly screamed at the response that Nurse Joy gave her after giving axew a cursory examination.<p>

"But...can't you put her in your magic ball machine?"

Nurse Joy shook her head. "No. That only infuses your pokemon with energy when they faint. Serious injuries can't be repaired by the machine. Your axew is in an extremely serious condition. His heart rate is falling and starting to beat erratically and the strength of his pulse is falling rapidly. You have to leave now if you want to even stand a small chance of saving him."

"Right," Sean replied, pulling a pokeball from his belt. "Sharon, quickly! We'll fly to Veilstone on Skiera! Cmon!"

* * *

><p>Rob heard someone approaching from his left. Instinctively turning, he came face to face with the person he least expected to see.<p>

But, oh _**boy **_was he pleased to see Kova.

"You —ing..." He yelled as he charged at the person who had managed to ruin his journey, right fist clenched tightly in preparation for a right hook.

* * *

><p>"What was that?" Morgan said, looking around frantically.<p>

"_Sounds like someone yelling...might he be in trouble?"_

"Guys, lets go...hey, Sonata, care to help me find that noise?"

"Cha!" Her chatot chirped back happily.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>I'll see what I can do.<strong>__"_

After viewing the memory that Palkia had played for him, Arceus teleported to Oreburgh City.

More specifically, he teleported directly to the location where he sensed all of Celebi's energy was targeted at.

* * *

><p>Kova didn't see it coming. He saw a teenager, whom he barely recognised, give him once glance and charge at him with an intent to...<p>

"_Not now! Duck!"_

Ducking the right hook, he retaliated with a left jab followed by thrusting his left elbow into his assailant's jaw, causing him to stagger back dazedly. His raichu leaped off him, sparks flying from his cheeks.

"_Raichu?"_

The teen was speaking now, voice cracking as he hurled the questions he had wanted to ask for so long, but could never do so. "I'll...I'll get you! What have you done with Firael! Where is she? Your father was a hamster and your mother smells of elderberries!"

"_This guy's a nutcase..." _Kova thought, before asking, "Who is this 'Firael' you speak of?"

"My charmander, you —ing useless excuse for a human being!"

"_Oh...this guy again...this will be fun..."_

"You...All I can say is that your...charmander had an...enjoyable stay with us. She wasn't that...urrk!"

* * *

><p>"<em>That sounded like someone being strangled." <em>Morgan thought.

She sped up.

* * *

><p>Catching him by surprise, the other trainer had taken advantage of Kova's lack of attention while he had been delivering his monologue to pounce on him, both hands around his throat. Scrabbling furiously for his pokeballs, he forced himself to look into two crazed eyes.<p>

"...I don't...know...huugh!" Kova forced out.

"You _lie_." Those two words were the softest he had heard from the trainer, but they were the most chilling. Kova unhooked two of his pokeballs from his belt.

"No! She escaped! Why do you think I- eurgh! Why do you think I'm in Sinnoh anyway?" As he spoke, he released his golbat and weezing. The sudden appearence of the two pokemon distracted the trainer long enough for Kova to break out of his death grip, staggering away from the other trainer whilst clutching at his throat.

* * *

><p>Steven leapt back, which was a perfectly normal reaction when one finds that most of the room was now taken up by a large white thing...<p>

"_Arceus?"_

"_**Yes.**__" _Arceus looked at him briefly, before his set his eyes on the gem that Aron was holding. His eyes glowed a little.

"_**Oh.**__" _Steven heard Arceus mutter once before vanishing once more, leaving an extremely befuddled taillow behind.

"_Ooookaaay...so what just happened? Did Arceus just randomly drop by to say two words and disappear again? Did he sound surprised? Man...this has to be a drea-"_ He mentally slapped himself. _"Why did I just say that? Why is it that when something weird happens, it has to be a dream? It doesn't make sense! I know I'm not dreaming, and Arceus just did appear to me just then. It's just some stupid storytelling convention. But..."_

He plucked a small pinion from the end of his wing and winced.

"_Yep. Definitely not a dream."_

* * *

><p>"No! She escaped! Why do you ... eurgh! Why do you...anyway?" Morgan could pick out individual words now, as she and her pokemon sprinted towards the commotion. She dimly registered her chatot emiting a soft blue glow from his normally black head as they approached their target.<p>

* * *

><p>"You LIE! If you were searching for a charmander in Sinnoh, what's taking you so long? How many charmanders do you even think actually live in Sinnoh? If you're going to lie, at least think of something convicing!" Rob yelled as he prepared to battle. Instead, Kova paused, seemingly deep in thought, before he smirked.<p>

"Oh, the irony...I have to thank you for helping me find her again, but I must bid you farewell! Adieu! Weezing, Explode. Golbat, Protect."

"_Oh no, not this again..." _was the only thought that went through Rob's mind as the world around him blured into a kaliedoscope of flashing greens and browns—

Blackout.

* * *

><p><em>It took Arceus far longer than it should have had for him to figure out exactly what had happened to Celebi and how to fix it. Eventually, he did, but his solution left him uncomfortable.<em>

"_**I have neglected my duty; further proof of my flaws. I had been told that Lucas was transformed, but didn't take steps to stop him from being so. Why? Mew...she charmed me into letting her get her way. But there is no excuse for what I did next...**_

_**Why did I leave? The least I could have done was explain the situation for him, and help him with his transformation...and now I need his help...**__"_

"**Lucas.**" The pseudo-mew shot awake. He was certain that all his pokemon were already asleep (because that's what you do at night, doofus).

"Arceus?"

"**Yes. Look, Lucas...I'm sorry for my treatment of you when you were transformed, but I- Celebi needs your help.**"

"Wait...rewind just a little. Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything!"

"**Exactly...**" came the murmured reply.

"What did you say? Didn't quite get you." Lucas replied, tugging at an ear to prove his point.

"**...I'll explain later. You need to come with me now!**" Arceus said, before leaping at Lucas, grabbing him, and teleporting away.

* * *

><p>"You LIE! If you were searching for a charmander in Sinnoh, what's taking you so long? How many charmanders do you even think actually live in Sinnoh? If you're going to lie, at least think of something convicing!" Morgan tilted her head in confusion while running.<p>

"_What are they talking about? Are they poachers looking for charmanders in Sinnoh? But there aren't any in Sinnoh...except for that one I saw at Rowan's lab...what was her trainer's name? He had that cute taillow_—_"_

BOOM.

"_What the..." _Morgan's train of thought was cut short as the clearing she was heading for exploded, and a branch came flying out of somewhere and struck her cleanly on the temple.

Reacting immediately, Adele began to drag her prone trainer's body away from the site of the explosion.

* * *

><p>Flap. Flap. Flap. Fla...<p>

Rynade sighed. After flying for 5 hours, one stops enjoying the scenery and starts worrying about keeping all his fingers attatched to his hands, or the fact that one's face was constantly being frozen off. He buried his face deeper into his murkrow's feathers.

That, and staying awake. And Rynade was in a comfortable position.

Flap. Flap. Flap. Fla...

"Zzz..."

* * *

><p>Palkia was nervously cradling Celebi as the ground rushed beneath them. In front of her, Sean was hunched over the front of Skiera's back as they pushed on towards Veilstone City.<p>

Suddenly, a faint glow started pulsing at the edge of her vision. Turning to look, she saw a swirling purple vortex for a split second when Arceus appeared, with...

"_With Mew? If ths is one of her pranks, it's not funny."_

The sudden appearence of Arceus and the mew didn't go unnoticed by Skiera, and Palkia found herself clinging frantically onto the sides of the skarmory as it whirled around in midair to get a glimpse of the presence that she had felt appear in her mind. Of course, that meant that Sean now found himself face-to-face with the two oldest pokemon in the world (or so he thought).

"What the-...Y-Y-You're...Mew? An-And I don't know who you are..." Sean managed, eyes wide as dinner plates (very very small dinner plates, of course). Palkia was about to draft a full reply explaining the nature of Arceus' visit when she realised two things: Firstly, she wasn't sure if Arceus was here to fix Celebi's condition or just tell her that everything would be fine. Secondly, her mind had abandoned that particular train of thought when she heard what 'Mew' said (through telepathy) next.

"_Bleaugh" _The mew stuck his tongue out (another alarm bell went through Palkia's head). "._...is it always going to be like this? You know, for all the good a good first impression may make, I believe rendering them mute isn't the best thing in the world."_

"_That's not Mew! Unless Arceus finally saw sense and gave her a brain transplant..." _Palkia thought, ignoring Sean's gaping mouth, which dangled on the far edges of her peripheral vision, just enough to distract her from her current train of thought.

"You're not Mew! At least, you don't act like her...You're not even a her!" Palkia finally managed, giving Sean a nudge, who promptly jerked out of his daze and realised his mouth was wide open.

"_Well, at least you're preceptive...err...why do you think of yourself as Palki-"_

"_Hey! No reading my thoughts! Just cause I can't block them anymore doesn't mean you can abuse your telepathy! And, yes, I AM Palkia. You should know, you turned me into a human." _Now it was the mew's turn to look confused.

"Err..._What?"_

"_Oh...you didn't...did you?"_

"_**I believe I need to update you on some current events which you may have missed out on.**__" _Arceus butted in.

* * *

><p>"<em>Uh...guys?" Aron said, waving a hand in front of Janice's face. After around half a minute, he realised that nobody was moving, except for him.<em>

"_Weird..." Aron muttered to himself. Suddenly, everyone started to move._

_Faster. And_

_Faster. And f__aster. And_

_Aron looked at the stone in his hands, which was still transparent. Then he saw his hands. They were also see-through._

_He looked up in time to see Davis walk straight through him._

_Faster. And f__aster. Andfasterandfaster..._

* * *

><p>"KROW!"<p>

"Huh? YARRGH!" Rynade yelled as his murkrow suddenly changed direction and started flying as quickly as he could in an apperently random direction.

"Hey! Whatareyoudoing! Heeeeelp!"

* * *

><p>"What." Palkia couldn't believe it.<p>

"_Mmhm...you're taking it rather well...Magikarp over there doesn't seem to be doing so well. His mouth's hanging out again." _Palkia chuckled. This was a part of Mew she had never expected to see. Then again, he wasn't really Mew, was he?

"_**Look. I know a quite a few pokemon that would be very angry with what Mew did, but all we have is Lucas here, and he'll have to do. Basically, what's happened is that Celebi had placed a time spell on this kid**__**— Don't ask me why — But basically, Mew let her continue to use her powers to keep previous engagements active, such as the duties she is generally responsible for, like the constant forwards motion of time, although that has started to undergo some erratic behaviour due to some fluctuations in the ionisation energies of the Higgs particles in n-dimensional spac-**__"_

"Get on with it." Palkia muttered.

"_**Oh. Yes. So one of his prevous engagements was the occasional transport of a human backwards through time to a period of nearly 1000 years ago. That wasn't a problem, as it was well within Celebi's abilities. However, what Celebi failed to account for was the second part of his application of his power. He made it so that anything that the boy was physically holding or wearing would be taken back in time as well. Now, this boy has Jirachi's stone, and I'm willing to bet a...a lot of things that Jirachi is around in the time period he was sent back to. Herein lies our problem. The stone and Jirachi cannot exist at the same time, because Jirachi becomes the stone when she waits for her comet to come back. Because Mew didn't give Celebi conscious control over his powers after transforming him, Celebi couldn't stop his subconscious from attempting to do the impossible, which has been sapping his strength. This is why Lucas is here. You need to transform him back, and hope he can stop the flow of power into the past before he dies.**__"_

"I am still confused. Sharon, I thought you said that your axew was called Axew, then you call it Celebi, but you apparently said the wrong name, and he is called Axew, but this guy here called him Celebi anyway, and now he has powers of time travel and manipulation? Something doesn't click here." Sean asked confusedly. He had recovered long enough to listen to Arceus' speech on Celebi's condition and was looking critically at the prone form of Celebi before him.

"Later, when it's not so stressful? I promise, okay?" Palkia said, watching the mew..._"Lucas, wasn't it? "_ float over to the axew and place his paws on Celebi's head, before closing his eyes. Moments later, he opened them again.

"_How the hell are you supposed to do this? I only know how to transform myself!"_

_..._

* * *

><p><em>Aron tried his best to follow the super-fast movements of everyone around him as he watched several days flash past him in a whirlpool of swirling colours, a constantly shifting abstract painting.<em>

"_When will it stop?__"_

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh, cool. I just have to transform myself into Celebi, and change the flow of energy so that it goes into Celebi here and transforms him instead of me...err...right?" <em>It had taken several minutes of debate between Arceus and Lucas before they managed to work out an impromptu solution.

"_**You might as well try it.**__"_

Lucas placed his hands on Celebi's body and closed his eyes. Then, his body began to glow a white, one which got more and more intense when, suddenly, it faded into two balls of light behind his eyes and rushed down his arms into Celebi's body.

Which convulsed, before being engulfed in a white light of its own.

The light faded to reveal Celebi in his true form (Sean seemed to have given up all hope of a logical reason for everything and was now looking at everything with eyes that were slightly glazed over). Skiera tried to get a quick look, tilting her head around to catch a glimpse of the pokemon.

He didn't look good. The tips of his arms and legs had gone from their original pale green to a mottled brown colour, which Palkia knew was not a good thing. Arceus, on the other hand, smiled.

"_**The flow of power has stopped. Go back to Hearthome and give her some medicene and he'll recover quickly. Lucas and I will return tomorrow night to sort everything out.**__"_

* * *

><p>Aron snapped awake, shooting up into a seated position, earning a disgruntled squawk from Steven, who had been perched on the gem he was holding.<p>

Heart pounding, he looked at his taillow. "Oops. Sorry there, little guy...just had the freakiest dream ever..."

* * *

><p>Kova mulled over the last words Rob had said before he had knocked him out.<p>

"_How many charmanders live in Sinnoh? They aren't native to Sinnoh, so there won't be any colonies of charmanders where that charmander_—_I think he called her Firael?_—_ could hide in. Come to think of it, the only way for charmanders to enter Sinnoh is with another trainer, but most of those would have evolved by then, so they'd be charmeleons or charizards...or imported in. I can get the stats on that, but I doubt there would be that many because of import restrictions on non-native pokemon. But that means that any charmander that is wild would be caught almost immediately, which also means that I was right when I was arguing with Giovanni. Hah!_

_So Firael should have been caught, and not many trainer's own charmanders...well, this should at least improve my chances slightly._

_Giovanni will have to be called."_

* * *

><p>"YARRGH!" Rynade yelled as his murkrow suddenly...stopped? He ended up nearly sliding over his murkrow's head<p>

"_Huh?"_

It was only when he tried to follow the gaze of his pokemon that he thought to look down, and he was met with an extremely odd scene.

Two humans flying on the back of a enlarged skarmory, but they were irrelevant. What interested him was not the green fairy-like pokemon, who was also lying on the skarmory, but the pink feline pokemon and the...

"_Oh gods...well, actually, oh god."_

Rynade pulled out his pokedex and scanned the last pokemon.

"_I have you now. We'll know who you are now, and just how powerful you are..."_

Just then, the centuar-like pokemon, whose body-ring was currently a bright pink, looked up, grabbed the Mew and teleported away. Unfazed, Rynade looked at his pokedex.

'_Scan: 100% Complete. View data? Y/N'_

Saturn was only a phone call away.

* * *

><p>Palkia saw Arceus look up, eyes glowing in shock and anger, before he touched Lucas with a hoof and teleported away. Looking up, Palkia saw a Murkrow hovering some hundred metres above them, who, as they watched, quickly flew off. She felt a tap on her shoulder.<p>

"So, about your explanation..." Sean said with a smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>"Ugh..." Rob moaned. Getting up while clutching his head, he looked around. The clearing that he was now standing in had been devastated by the explosion that had ripped through it. Rai, who had been nudging him, pointed in a particular direction. Rob wondered why his raichu would do such a thing, but then it clicked.<p>

"Is that where Kova..." Rai nodded.

"Right. Let's go." Rob said. He sent out Scythe as well, just incase.

* * *

><p>As they walked along, Scythe turned to Rai.<p>

"Where are we going?"

"We're tracking down the person who stole Firael." Rai replied.

"How do you know?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you know he went this way?"

"Oh. I'm not a growlithe, but my sense of smell is still good enough to smell out a weezing, and that trainer was practically next to his weezing. It's child's play tracking him."

"Good enough for me."

* * *

><p>Sonya woke up.<p>

"_Where am I?"_

She got up shakily, and bumped her head against the roof of her cell just as she was straightening up. Realising that really only a child could stand up in the space she was confined in, she put her hands out and shuffled around on her knees to find out just how small her cell was. She figured it was slightly less wide than it's height, but twice as long, so she could comfortably lie down and sit up, but not stand up.

The ground started rumbling, a high pitched whine beginning to sound as Sonya found herself thrown to the back of her cell, jarring her elbow painfully against the wall of her cell. The rumbling got louder and louder, and the high pitched whine got louder and higher as she realised that she recognised that noise.

As she felt her stomach drop, as if her cell had been lifted up, she figured out where she was, and what she was inside.

"_This is a plane..."_

* * *

><p>Saturn and Giovanni had been talking to each other over the videophone when both of their mobiles rung simultaneously.<p>

* * *

><p>Giovanni pulled out his mobile.<p>

"Yes?"

"Giovanni, sir?"

"Yes."

"It's Kova, sir. I've found something which might help us find that charmander."

"Go on."

"Well, I came across the previous owner of the charmander today, and he said something that made a lot of sense. How many charmanders are there in Sinnoh?"

"What?"

"Think about it. Any that trainers take to Sinnoh would have invariably evolved by now, and the import laws on non-native species make it hard for charmander to be sent via mail as presents or any other reason. Because charmanders are non-native to Sinnoh, that would mean that they would be probably be sought after if one was seen in the wild. Can you just check the census details on Sinnoh? How many charmanders are there in Sinnoh? Becuase if that number is small enough, it would make tracking her down a lot easier. I also found her name, Firael."

"Good to know. I'll have someone else call you back after they have the information you need."

* * *

><p>Saturn pulled out his mobile.<p>

"Yes?"

"Saturn, sir?"

"Yes."

"It's Rynade, sir. I've seen the god pokemon again." Saturn drew in a sharp breath.

"What? Arceus?"

"Sir, if that is his name, then yes. I saw him with a mew speaking with some trainers who were flying on a skarmory. I have the pokedex data to send you if you want it."

"No. Come straight back. I need to know everything."

"Sir, I can't. We need to stop at Hearthome to rest. My murkrow tired himself out chasing Arceus and can't fly at the moment. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Fine." Saturn hung up. Moments later, Giovanni hung up as well. He looked directly into the camera, an action Saturn found unnerving as most people looked at the monitor, away from the camera.

"So, where were we?"

* * *

><p>Morgan woke up, her vision blurry. Placing a hand to her head and feeling a dampness there, she removed her hand to find herself bleeding. Realising that Adele had been standing over her, licking her wound, she weakly started trying to push her off.<p>

"...I'll be fine...I just need to get to Eterna City." Weakly getting to her feet, she started walking towards Eterna city with her pokemon in tow.

"_What did I just hear?"_

* * *

><p><strong>And the plot thickens. I want to clear something up here. I'm using Australian customs laws here, where you can't actually import non-native species, but trainers are allowed to bring their pokemon in. However, they're bound by laws that prohibit them from releasing them into the wild. Taillow ARE native, because Swellow can be caught ingame in platnium, so taillow must exist in Sinnoh as well.<strong>

**ej92: In the end, calling Mew Myu kinda seemed to work out, and it's the only Japanese name in this fic actually. (I don't think Rai counts)**

**leygose: All in good time, all in good time, and I fix'd the 'weird' thing.**

**thewookie1: ...Tap dancing? What? I think it's going to be uphill for Rob for the time being.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: SUCCESS. I play too much TF2, don't I?**

**Cyberfire22: Did Aron and Isrea do well? Steven and Rush didn't excute Aron's plan, not really. And Chekhov's gun says that they must be seen again. OR ELSE.**

* * *

><p><strong>Firael: The plot thickens.<strong>

**Alexa: HEY! You stole my line!**

**Firael: Hmph. First in best dressed.**

**Alexa: That doesn't make sense. You don't wear clothes. Err...Firael, why are you twitchin**—

**Firael:...**

**Rush:3...2...1...**

**Alexa: I should run now, shouldn't I?**

**Rush: Yes. Over the hills and far, far away.**


	24. 1 Hour

**I'm back, guys, and it looks as though the evil guys (who, apart from Kova, have been acting like they were in a soap opera doing nothing but talk) have finally gotten their act together. None of you have watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, obviously, seeing as no one got the reference when-**

"**GET ON WITH IT!"**

**Okay, okay...jeez. So here goes the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Monty Python. I've recently heard that owning people counts as slavery, and that's a bad thing. Besides, they'd drive me crazy.**

* * *

><p>"<em>So tired...and thirsty..." <em>Sonya thought as she lay on her back. They had been flying for over eight hours, and every time she moved her tongue, her throat stuck to itself, and every breath hurt as cold, dry air rasped down into her lungs.

"_Why can't I just go to sleep?"_

* * *

><p>"Okay. We're back home. Now can you explain? There isn't anyone nearby or anything. Exactly what happened when we were riding on Skiera?" Sean asked upon entering the motel room that they had previously been intending to spend a peaceful night in.<p>

Palkia smirked. "Sure. As you can see," she pointed at Celebi, whom she had laid on the bed and was pulling out some potions for him to drink. "This is not an axew. This pokemon is a celebi. Well, the celebi."

Sean nodded. "So you owned a legendary? And you never told me?"

Palkia shook her head. "While I technically owned a legendary, I had a good reason for owning one. However, I must tell you that I am also a legendary."

Sean nodded, then burst out laughing. "Mmhmm...hahaha! No, seriously, why did your axew suddenly turn into a celebi? And how did you catch him?"

"Because he overextended-" Palkia paused. "Wait, you don't believe me, do you?"

"Uhh...no. Should I?"

"_You know, I don't really blame him. I mean, I'd find this stuff pretty unbelievable if it was happening to me, but it isn't. Just go with the flow...and try not to hurt your head too much." _Lucas' voice caused Palkia's head to snap upwards. In her peripheral vision, she saw the Sean do the same.

Two pokemon stood before them.

"_..."_

* * *

><p>Rob stood at the entrance to Eterna city. He hadn't realised how stupid his plan for tracking down Kova had been. While Rai could follow his scent through a forest or fields of grass, he couldn't do the same in a city.<p>

"_Ah well, I'll stay in this place for a few weeks, ask around for him...check with the police. I've got to find him before he slips out of my grasp._

_Him...and Firael._

_She might just be alive..."_

Something unfamiliar stirred within his heart.

Faith.

_"She **is** alive."_

* * *

><p>"<strong>You know, I think if you transformed Palkia back temporarily, Sean here might be a little more receptive of our story.<strong>" Arceus spoke, so that Sean couldn't understand him.

"_What a way to break the ice...but does this mean I can turn back into myself?" _Palkia thought. She looked at the human-turned-mew with a fainter glimmer of hope. _"While being human is fun for a little, it gets old quick."_

"_Err...yeah, okay. Palkia, can you come over? I don't want you breaking the bed, or you'd have to pay for it."_

Sean watched as the mew (_"His name was Lucas, wasn't it?"_) closed his eyes and placed them on Sharon's head. This time, his body only faintly glowed, and Sean could just make out a barely discernible pulse of white light travel down his arms into Sharon, who gave a slight shiver.

Lucas floated backwards, and so Sean did the same, moving back to stand next to Arceus.

Nothing happened.

Then, nothing happened.

"Sooooo..." Sean said, trying to break the awkward silence that had just cropped up. However, as soon as his words had left his mouth, Palkia fell to her knees with a grunt, skin whitening into a light shade of purple as she started grow in size. Suddenly, her clothing ripped as two light purple wings shot out from behind her and a tail worked its way out from the back of her midsection. Sean could only watch in disbelief as dark purple lines began to work their way down her body as the gems that had emerged on her shoulders began glowing. Finally, her body stopped writhing and Sean took a tentative step towards the hunched figure on the ground. He poked it.

Palkia stirred.

"Unnh..." Palkia put a claw to her head. "Oh, so you did turn me back." She was about to get into a standing position when Arceus quickly crossed to her side and held her down.

_"Wait...what? What did Sharon turn into? I. Don't. Even. It's huge- wait... no-she's-huge-what-happened-to-her-why'm-I-so-calm-wait-I'm-not-what-did-she-say?..." _Sean's thoughts were currently a scrambled mess with the consistency of a sausage.

"**Firstly, you need to speak telepathically, because Sean won't know what you're saying. Secondly, can you see how I'm practically touching the roof? What do you think will happen if you stand up? I understand that you are not currently used to your body, so try and move slowly to begin with.**"

"_Oooh...okay, Sean, can you understand me now?" _Palkia said as she struggled into a seating position.

"Um...yeah!" Sean managed to blurt out, staring at Palkia with newfound awe. "I am in way, way over my head here...can you just explain everything again? Especially why you were a human and...err...Celebi was an axew."

Lucas shook his head and floated over to the bed before flopping onto it. _"We're going to be here a while, and I'm not telling the story. One of you two can do it, cause I wasn't there for all of it."_

Everyone turned to look at Arceus.

"**Fine. This all began three years ago when Lucas tripped over a crimson plate which had been left behind by me several millennia ago when I spread them around the world to help stabilise the world I had just created. Piqued by his discovery, he went and...**"

"_Oh boy...he's doing the whole story...we're going to be here forever..." _Lucas thought, careful not to broadcast his opinions out to everyone else.

* * *

><p>Kova's phone rang. After quickly checking the caller ID, he answered the phone.<p>

"Sir?"

"Kova, after reviewing the records of trainers who currently own charmanders, we have found twenty-four such cases, only ten of which warrant attention as fourteen of the twenty-four charmanders are male. However, of those ten, only four have been caught or received recently.

Looking at the past records of hotel visits under these identities, one, a Jacob Rogers, has been around Sandgem for the past month, having just received his charmander, which makes him likely candidate but for the fact that we have some postal records of the import of his charmander. The second, one Mary Sue, has caught a shiny (_"Lucky $#%!$!" _Kova thought privately), which means that she isn't who we're looking for. The last two, an Aron Silpha and a Saxtun Hael, both have charmanders that fit our above criteria, as we don't have any records of charmanders sent to them via post. However, they have both won at the Oreburgh gym relatively recently, and are likely to head for the Eterna Gym next."

"So you want me to wait here for them, sir?"

"Yes. Wait for two weeks and keep an eye on the gym. If nothing happens, then call me again."

"Yessir."

* * *

><p>"Well, you're suffering from a minor concussion. Whatever hit you did so at the weakest point of your head, so you'll probably suffer from headaches for the next week or so. Other stronger symptoms may include, dizziness, extra sensitivity to light and blurred or double vision, but these will go away within three to four days." Nurse Joy said after bandaging up Morgan's head.<p>

"Ugh, okay. In fact, I may have one now...do you have any Napadol, Apsrin or Feuronen?" Morgan groaned, touching the spot where she had been hit lightly.

"Yes. My recommendation is for you to stay in bed for at least five days, probably six, and to get as much sleep as possible. Drink lots of water, and stay away from bright lights. Here's some Napadol, but remember that you shouldn't take more than 4 a day. The actual wound isn't too bad, and it'll heal quickly."

As Morgan rather unsteadily walked out of the Pokemon Centre into the brightly lit streets, she half-heartedly grumbled to her pokemon.

"So, a week of rest and relaxation...oh joy. Where d'you reckon we can get a room at this time of night?"

"Bellossom!" Rynka happily replied. Adele just dipped her head and shook it in despair.

"_Three days in a room with Rynka? The gods hate me." _She thought, shaking her tails in annoyance.

* * *

><p>"<strong>...And as a result, I had to get Lucas here... Why is Lucas asleep?<strong>" Arceus paused, nonplussed, as Palkia nudged Lucas awake with a flick of her claw. "**Err...to revert Celebi's transformation and return control of his own powers back to him.**"

To Palkia's surprise, Sean seemed to be taking the entire incident well. "So what now? You do realise that the Elite Four re-converge in six months, right? What are you going to do then? People will notice your disappearance, you know.

"**The boy is right.**" Arceus agreed.

"_Ooh, great. So what? I think people would notice if some pink cat pokemon that EVERYBODY wants to catch turns up in place instead of me, right?" _Lucas replied brusquely.

"Wait, you said that Mew, the real one, was taking a holiday. Surely that can't be for more than a few months, or am I missing something here?"

"_What you are missing is that Mew is several thousand years old; what counts as a few months for her could mean several decades or centuries for you. You see, the perception of time is relative to how much you have to spend, so Lucas, you're probably going to spend a very long time as a Mew." _Palkia replied for Arceus.

"Oh. That changes things a bit. Well, in the short term, couldn't you just transform into your human self and do your Elite Four thing in that form?"

"_Wait, WHAT? DECADES? **CENTURIES?**" _Lucas 'blurted' out telepathically, before managing to restore some measure of calmness. "_Sure, it might work, and I can already transform into myself, but my human form won't age. It might work for a few years, but then what? I can only transform into something I've seen. And Arceus, after this, we're going to have a nice long talk about this holiday business. You and all your other legendaries. I'm **not** going to spend what could be several centuries doing something I don't want to do. Find someone who wants the job, cause...cause I don't."_

"**Fine. After this, I will call a meeting of all the legendaries **—** except you and Celebi**", Arceus pointed a hoof at Palkia. "**And we will discuss this in greater detail. However, we must also consider the possibility that Mew might not want to take up her duties then. If so, it then becomes your job to find someone with the right qualities to take up her role.**"

"Wait...so...you're saying that legendaries can...'retire'?" Sean asked as Lucas' mouth dropped and he flopped backwards onto the bed, breathing heavily.

"_Yeah. After a long time, some of us just get sick and tired, and we get Mew to transform another human or pokemon into us and vice versa, where we live out the rest of our lives as a human or another pokemon before dying a natural death. It's happened a few times. The three legendary dogs do it every few centuries, and the Lati twins have done so once, together. Another two pokemon who, as you say, 'retire' often are Cressila and Darkrai, which is understandable. I haven't retired, and neither has Celebi. It goes without saying that Arceus and Mew haven't either. Personally, I expected Giratina to 'retire' often, but she's only done so once, very early on. I guess the old Giratina just picked a really well-suited replacement." _Palkia answered Sean's question.

"_Great. Another complication." _Lucas grumbled.

"**The sooner we are finished here, the better. I was originally intending for you to serve out an entire lifetime as a human-pokemon pair, but it may be too dangerous for you to do so.**"

"_Really? We can go back to being pokemon again? That's awesom-" _Palkia started cheering.

"**As a result, I have decided that you and Celebi are to be transformed back to your human and axew forms, with the ability to transform back into your true pokemon forms on your own, IF Sean allows it. Lucas and I have already discussed how this is to be implemented, so, Lucas, if you will...**" Arceus finished.

"But..." Sean started, only to be interrupted by Lucas.

"_No buts! I'm not giving you any special powers or anything. Hell, it's not like you were forced to transform into a pink cat on the whim of said cat! Jeez, so lets see...okay...side effects include vomiting, dizziness, nausea, hey! What was that for!" _Lucas rubbed his head, where he had just been smacked by Palkia.

"_And hopefully will cure them of their lacking sense in humour." _Lucas quickly transformed both Celebi and Palkia back to their human and axew forms. However, this time, his arms were still glowing faintly from the transformation process, and Lucas then touched Sean's arm with both paws. To Sean, it felt like he had just plunged his hand into a bucket of warm water.

"Ahh...you could do so well as a massage therapist..."

"_Not funny." _Lucas replied curtly.

"Oh, okay..."

"**That should be all. We must go.**" Arceus said as he and Lucas teleported away.

* * *

><p>As soon as Aron had fallen asleep again (the stone was now laid on the bedside table), Steven squeezed out of Aron's arms and flew over to the double bed where Myu and Isrea were sleeping. He landed on Myu's head and started nipping at her ear to wake her up.<p>

"Unnhh...mmm...Steven? What are you-" Myu had managed to blearily mumble before Steven interrupted her.

"Not now and not here! Let's go outside."

"But it's still earl-"

"Now."

* * *

><p><em>In the clearing, Firael was sleeping as Alexa dwelled on the dream she had experienced about a week ago. Although she was loath to reveal her worries to Firael, Alexa was afraid. The last spoken words of her dream had stuck with her.<em>

_Who was she?_

"_You know, that's a really good question, and while normally you'd just be left to your own devices to grapple with your conscience and whatnot, I'm here to help because I'm really bored right now!" Alexa groaned. Her favourite blue charmander had appeared. Over the weeks, she had developed Firael's love (or lack thereof) for the infernal creature._

"_Warning? Is now a good time?"_

"_Evidently, it is. Why else would I be here?" The blue charmander took on an offended expression, behind which he seemed to be mocking her._

"_Well, seeing as your sole purpose so far has been to annoy Firael and I, I actually can't see what you have to offer." Alexa grunted irritably._

"_I am deeply offended. For one, I did tell you and Firael what was happening to you two, and I see that you've been changing quickly." The blue charmander paused for effect, wagging a claw in her direction. _

_Alexa sighed as she looked over her body. She still had a humanoid appearance, but her skin was completely orange, or a cream color over her midriff. Furthermore, she had, over the past week, grown a tail, which hadn't ignited yet. She had also noticed her fingers shortening as her fingernails began to flake into sharp points. "Yeah...I...I guess..."_

_Warning shrugged. "Uh huh, but seeing as I've just gotten over how badly you've insulted, I've actually only got a few words for you."_

"_What?"_

"_Go to sleep. Join Firael."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Gooo...toooo...sleeee-"_

* * *

><p>"Okay, before you say anything, just speak in telepathy, or it's going to seem weird with you just talking to a pokemon in the middle of the night. Otherwise it's just me making some noise." Steven whispered once he and Myu had left their room.<p>

"_Morning. And what do you take me for? A sponge? I know not to talk to you out loud!" _Myu telepathed back.

"Whatever."

"_Well, why am I here? I enjoy sleeping, you know, and I think that you would as well, right?"_

"Okay. You know the night before you aske- no, _suggested _that you join Aron and Isrea on their journey?"

"_Err...yes. What were you doing in that bag anyway?"_

Steven paused. Did he want to tell Myu that he had been eavesdropping on her? "Well, I was...having...trouble...sleeping...yeah...so I was awake when I felt..._someone_ near me, and when I looked, this small ball of white light floated out of Aron's bag and flew...into me."

Myu looked surprised. _"Into you? Then what?"_

Steven shrugged, or tried his best, considering that birds didn't really have shoulders (he just shuffled his wings upwards a little). "Then nothing. It just flew back out and back into Aron's bag, so I went to have a look, before I was pulled out."

"_Oh. That really is weird." _

"Anyway, I've been watching Aron closely, and he's been going to sleep with it recently, bu-" Steven was about to ask his question, but was cut short by Myu.

"_He what? But I've never seen him asleep with the stone!" _

Steven started speaking again. "That's because he waited until you and Isrea were asleep before pulling the stone out. What I wanted to ask you was that a few hours ago, while Aron's stone was glow- JUST LET ME FINISH!" The last part was shouted out in response to Myu's look of astonishment. "While Aron's stone was glowing. That wasn't all. The stone then turned translucent, but never completely disappeared. It stayed like that for a while, then...and please don't interrupt me here, Arceus appear-"

"_WHAT?" _Steven fell off Myu's shoulder, such was the force of her telepathic scream. He tried to right himself, but disorientation and the echoes of Myu's scream caused him to crash head-first into the ground before he managed to slow his descent.

"I told you not to interrupt! Ow..." Steven grumbled, rubbing his head. Myu picked him up.

"_Sorry. Got carried away."_

"Well, Arceus appeared, took one look at Aron, said 'oh.' and teleported away. Soon afterwards, Aron practically jumps out of bed, and he's sweating bucketloads, looks at me, and says, 'Oops. Sorry there, little guy...just had the freakiest dream ever...' I mean, he must be hiding something to do with that stone. I just wondered what you thought of all this."

Myu scratched her head with her free hand. _"To be honest, I have no idea..."_

Steven smirked. "Wow, the famous Mew doesn't know something about this Jirachi stone."

Myu nearly dropped Steven. _"How did you know?"_

"Remember what you said once you had pulled the stone out of Aron's bag? Jirachi. I don't know who or what a Jirachi is, but judging by your reaction, I'm right."

"_I'll think about this. If I have a good explanation I'll tell you about this."_

"Cool, and Mew?"

"_Yeah?"_

"Can you tell Aron I'm Steven? It's really frustrating for me not to be able to tell him."

Now it was Myu's turn to smile. _"No. Because I don't want to." _ She stuck her tongue out at Steven, who squawked angrily.

"What? Why don't you?"

"_I actually have good reasons for not telling him. Firstly, what makes you think he'll believe me? Secondly, it'll raise questions about how I can speak to pokemon, and I like being treated as another human for a change. Finally, it's fun watching you suffer."_

"You're evil."

"_I know."_

* * *

><p><em>As soon as Alexa had fallen asleep, she found herself in the grandstands of a small stadium. Looking down from her vantage point, she realised that a race was on, the hurdles currently being pulled into place. With a jolt of realisation, she remembered where she was. This was the last race she had won before being kidnapped by Kova.<em>

_Her suspicions were confirmed when she watched the contestants walk out. It took her a depressingly long amount of time to recall what she had looked like as human, and for those few seconds, dread descended upon her as vultures upon a dead body. For those few seconds..._

_She didn't know who she was. Had she lost her humanity? Her sense of identity?_

* * *

><p>Over the past week, Pluto had been kept updated on the (albeit uneasily) developing truce between Giovanni and Saturn. However, when Saturn had asked for her return, Giovanni had laughed off the request and responded dismissively, saying that he didn't want to give away his best 'bargaining chip' so cheaply.<p>

That hadn't troubled Pluto, as she had expected no less from Giovanni. What troubled her was the lack of any observable reaction from Saturn, as though he had expected Giovanni to try and hold on to her, and didn't mind him doing so.

At the moment though, she was bored. Watching everyone come and go in the Team Rocket base was probably exciting enough to keep her occupied for two minutes before boredom set in. Sighing, she flopped onto her bed to try sleeping, her only refuge from the troubled thoughts that beset her every waking moment.

* * *

><p><em>Firael found herself in a dream, but when she tried to get up (she was currently lying on the floor), she realised that something was wrong.<em>

_She was a human._

* * *

><p><em>Eventually, Alexa caught sight of her former self, who carried a look of extreme puzzlement on her face. She tried to climb down to the track to get a better look, and to see what was troubling her 'clone'. Reaching the handrail at the edge of the viewing area, she quickly vaulted over (nearly tangling her tail in the bars while doing so) and landed on someone.<em>

"_Wait, what?__" Alexa thought as she passed through the head of a man who was walking over towards the high jump mats. "__Can nobody see me?__" _

"_On your marks." The racestarter barked out, pointing a Starting Pistol at the sky. _

_With that piece of information, she ran towards the start line where she saw herself hunch over the starting blocks before-_

"_Get set."_

"_Wait. That body positioning is all wrong. I never started a race hunched over like that, my head is way too low!__"_

"_Go."_

_It took all of Alexa's self control not to flinch as somebody ran straight through her, but it was helped by the fact that she was so engrossed in seeing herself run and jump._

_Or rather not..._

"_It's been ages since I hurdled, but I still know that nobody runs and jumps like that. Looks like in this dream, I lose the race. Wow...I'm horrible.__" Alexa thought as she jogged down the lane she had seen herself run down. She had never seen anyone take a hurdle with so little technique, let alone herself. As she caught up to herself, she saw everyone else in the race suddenly stop. As soon as her 'clone' had gotten back past them, they started running again, but at a much slower pace. Her 'clone' didn't seem to notice, being so engrossed on leaping (or rather not) over the last hurdle. One last strangled yell, a few stumbling steps, and Alexa saw herself win the 110m hurdles._

"_This wasn't how I remember it." She remarked to herself. She didn't expect her 'clone' to start spinning around wildly, shouting._

"_Alexa? Is that you? Why am I a human?"_

* * *

><p><em>Firael never wanted to run a hurdles race ever again. The last thing she wanted to be doing while test driving a new body was to be trying to leap over obstacles half her height while running at speed. She was rather surprised to find that she had somehow won her race when she heard Alexa speak in her head.<em>

"_**That wasn't how I remember it."**_

_Spinning around wildly, she started looking for Alexa._

"_Alexa? Is that you? Why am I a human?"_

* * *

><p>"<em><span>She can't see me, can she?<span>__" Alexa thought. Regardless of whether she could be seen or not, Alexa decided to reply to Firael's question._

"_I don't think you can see me, but in here, you're me. Just go with the flow. I don't know myself what's going to happen either."_

"_Ok."_

* * *

><p><em>Soon afterwards, Firael found herself standing on a pedastal, being given a medal by the Master of Ceremonies of the athletics meet that she was 'attending'. <em>

"_And the winner of the 110m hurdles event, Alexa Grove!" As the crowd clapped, the MC placed a medal around her head, sunlight glinting off the gold paint. Suddenly, the MC's expression darkened as a scowl descended upon his face, and Firael felt the medal around her neck tighten and crush her airways. Falling to her knees, groping at the medal, Firael saw the shadow of the MC as he stood over her._

_"_This isn't you."__

* * *

><p><em>Alexa could only watch. She had tried to help Firael, but her hands just passed harmlessly through her neck. As she looked on in helpless frustration, she noticed her body begin to turn transparent.<em>

"_Firael!" She yelled._

_But even Firael couldn't hear her anymore._

* * *

><p><em>Firael didn't know what to say. The MC pushed her off the pedestal with his foot, and Firael couldn't only tumble to the ground as she saw the colours of the stadium begin to shift while she grappled with the medal. In the background, the audience's clapping had slowed, and they were now clapping as one entity, drumming out a tattoo on the insides of her eardrums...<em>

Clap.

Clap.

"_THIS ISN'T YOU!"_

Clap.

_The MC jumped down from the top of the pedastal to kneel beside Firael, listening to her rasping breaths as she struggled for air._

Clap.

"_Who are you?"_

Clap.

_Then, without warning, the medal's iron grip on her neck relaxed itself, and the MC's expression turned into that of one enjoying an inside joke as he walked away._

Cla-

"_You don't even know, do you?"_

_The stands were empty, and all Firael could do as she lay on the ground struggling to regain her breath, was watch._

_"Who am I?"_

_As the Master of Ceremonies walked off into the distanc-_

* * *

><p>"<em>Woah! So, a pretty vivid dream then?" Warning chuckled as both Firael and Alexa bolted upright, panting heavily.<em>

_Firael narrowed her eyes._

"_Get him."_

* * *

><p><strong>Before I continue, I would hope everyone who reads this fic (actually, just everyone in general) took the time to reflect on the calamity that was 911. I guess it has a certain significance to this fic as the event was explicitly mentioned in the first chapter, but in the end, it was still one of the most tragic events of the past decade. In fact, anyone who wants to see a hidden side of the events at the WTC should search 'The Falling Man' in YouTube, and watch the 75 minute documentary. It's an insight into the 'jumpers', the people who were left with no choice but to jump from the buildings. It's sicking to think what would have driven someone so far, so close to the edge, that they would rather jump than face the fire and smoke.**


	25. Sweet Dreams

**We should see some plot advancement here, and I fully explain the dreams Alexa and Firael have been having. Hopefully it makes sense, because it's a little garbled, in my opinion. Also, I'm going to cover an entire week in one day (hopefully this will make sense when you read the chapter), and I thought I'd try telling each day from a different character's perspective (from Aron's group. Alexa/Firael is going to be interesting, and I'll do my best to see if I can get the formatting right for that, and it's going to be in first person.) I'll still stick primarily to third person narrative, but it seems like a nice way to skip a week of that should be boring training, but man, it's hard to write in first person. I don't know why people do it so much. **

**Disclaimer: The Author (who may or may not exist) would like to warn the Reader that he/she may be the only entity in the universe, and as such any perceived mistakes with this chapter are entirely the Reader's fault. Alternatively, I am the only entity in the universe, which renders the entire disclaimer moot. It's all relative, you see. To me, I know I exist, but to you, reading this redundant disclaimer, you know YOU exist, but not whether I exist. O.o**

* * *

><p>"<em>Uh...I'm sure we can sort this all out...why are you-ARGH!" Warning started saying, but was cut off as he was pounced upon by both Alexa and Firael.<em>

"_You've been responsible for these dreams, haven't you?" Firael growled._

"_Uh...your dreams are controlled by your subconscious, not me..." Warning mumbled._

"_Right, and aren't you our subconscious?" Alexa joined in. "Hell, you practically made me go to sleep so that Firael could have that dream!"_

"_It's kinda hard to explain..."_

"_Then take your time. After all, we're going to be here for a while, aren't we?" Firael's grip on the blue charmander's arm tightened._

"_Fine then! I'll give you a really bad analogy that is close enough to the truth, if you really want an answer..."_

"_Whatever." _

"_Right. Look. I'm currently the embodiment of both of your subconsciousnesses. In a sense, I am what the two of your subconsciousnesses will eventually join up to become. However, they aren't merging properly, and these 'nightmares' are the direct result of them. I experience them as well, don't you worry. Basically both of your subconsciousnesses don't want to give up their individual identities, and are currently going through a bit of an angsty phase, like you are- Huuuugfh!" Warning's explanation was cut off by Firael slamming a paw into his neck._

"_I am __**not **__angsty." Behind Firael, Alexa fought the urge to roll her eyes. She failed, and eyes were promptly rolled._

"_Right, if you say so..." Warning said, rubbing his sore neck. "Basically, I can't help you out here. You two are going to have to sort it out yourselves."_

"_Well, you've certainly been helpful." Alexa said, voice laced heavily with sarcasm._

"_Really?"_

"_No."_

* * *

><p><em>Arceus and Lucas appeared in Limbo.<em>

"_Sooo..." Lucas started._

"_**Wait a little. I need to send out my summons. After that, we shall talk.**__"_

"_Cool...whatever you say...__Hmm...so let's see...__" Lucas conjured a pool of custard and landed on top of the custard, rolling over the top without sinking. The sudden appearance of such a foreign object distracted Arceus._

"_**Custard? Really?**__"_

"_Well, I've always wondered what it was like to swim in something thick and gloopy...and I've got nothing better to do...aren't you meant to be doing something?"_

"_**Ah...yes...**__" Arceus tilted his head forwards and the lilac ring (he had the psychic plate with him) began glowing brightly. Arceus started speaking again, but this time, Lucas heard Arceus' voice both through his ears and in his mind._

"_**Legendaries, I have a relatively urgent matter to discuss with you. Convene at Spear Pillar in 5 days.**__"_

_As soon as Arceus had finished, Lucas waved the pool and the custard that had stuck to his fur away, before asking, "Relatively urgent? Just how much of a problem is this to you?"_

"_**Lucas, one thing you have to understand is that when I call an urgent meeting, the legendaries have to push themselves to the limit to make it here, which would draw attention. I only call those for situations which could have severe consequences. The worst-case scenario of your predicament is that you're stuck as a Mew for a few centuries. While that may be severe to you, on a large scale, it really doesn't matter. The main reason why this is a problem that I'm trying to fix is that you have been wronged, but I'm not going to have some legendaries scamper around after you because one of us, who has been doing her job for longer than you can imagine, decided that she wanted a holiday and rashly took off.**__"_

"_Oh...I guess you're right." Lucas replied, slightly abashed._

"_**However, I do need to apologise for the way you have been treated.**__"_

"_Huh? But I haven't spoken to anyone since I was...trans__—__ changed."_

"_**Exactly. It was a dereliction of duty on my behalf to not have taken the time to explain the situation, as it stood, to you. For that, I am sorry. You should not have been left in the dark for as long as you were on the length and nature of your...transformation.**__"_

"_Ah well, it's okay. I don't really mind too much, but I still want to live my life, y'know?" Lucas threw his spindly arms up in the air._

"_**Which is why this meeting is being called. I guess you'll just be returning to Faraway Island then?**__"_

"_Y-Yeah..." Lucas' voice trailed off, deep in thought._

_Soon after, both pokemon had teleported away. Lucas's pokemon hadn't even noticed his disappearance._

* * *

><p>The next day, Rynade found himself back at the Landing Bay of Hearthome City. He let his murkrow out, and watched him expand to a suitable size before getting on his pokemon's back and flying off, headed for Veilstone City.<p>

* * *

><p>I was sleeping soundly beside my trainer's when she jerked up, pushing away from<em>—<em>

"Aha! So you ARE ticklish!" Myu's voice could be heard over Isrea's yelps of protestations as Myu kept on tickling her.

"_Oh wait...I'm fallin__—"_

Now safely (or so I would think) on the ground, I got up groggily before hearing a dull thump land next to me. Realising that Rush had been knocked off after me, I walked over (still holding a flipper to my head) and turned the starly over.

"Ugh...what happened?" Rush mumbled, before shooting up, eyes wild. "The hunters! They...oh, it's...it's just you."

"_The hunters?" _I had no idea what Rush was talking about, but he seemed to have gotten his bearings, so I walked out from the gap between Myu and my trainer's bed's, heading for Aron's pokemon, who had been woken by Myu and my trainer's tussling and shouts.

"What's gotten into them? Although, to be fair, I'm kinda glad I woke up." Firael (or was it Alexa? I was starting to find it harder and harder to tell the difference between the two personalities) grumbled, before throwing Steven (who had been trying to go back to sleep) off the bed and jumping down after him.

"_Okay, so that's probably Firael._" I thought, happy now that I had identified the person that was currently 'in control'.

"Whyd'..." Steven groaned beside her.

"Well, you looked pretty unhappy when they," Probably-Firael pointed to the bedroom, where Isrea's giggles could still be heard, "woke you up, and I didn't want to get you down." Oh god, that was a horrible joke.

"Huh, you've got to be Firael, cause Alexa's actually got a sense of humour!" Apperently, Rush had followed me in, but had taken enough care to fly out of harm's way before calling out to her.

Firael growled. "You can't stay off the ground forever, and when you do come down, I'll be waiting..."

* * *

><p>"So."<p>

Rynade had expected Saturn to wait for his arrival in Veilstone city inside the Galactic headquarters, but Saturn had turned up personally at the Landing Bay, and escorted him into his office, where Rynade now found himself sitting.

"Sir?"

"Tell me what you saw."

* * *

><p>"So you're telling me that Mew's gone on a holiday, and that she chose a human, of all things to replace her, and said human turned me back into a celebi, and then into an axew again?" Celebi asked incredulously. He had woken up about 20 hours after Lucas and Arceus had left, halfway through Sean, his pokemon and Palkia's dinner, and after grouching about not having any dinner himself, had started asking what had happened while he was out.<p>

"Errr...now that he puts it that way, it does seem a little far-fetched." Sean mumbled through a mouthful of food, after it had been translated to him by Palkia, who had finished eating.

"Oh, and don't forget the whole 'we can now change back with his permission' thing. Look, let me change, and I'll believe you." Celebi folded his arms.

"Ok...dammit...Lucas didn't tell me how this whole thing worked...try and think of your celebi form, and we'll see what happens."

"Riiight...whatever you say...I reckon you're crazy, and Palkia, this isn't funny." Celebi mumbled. Palkia chose not to translate that.

Regardless of how little faith he had in Palkia and Sean's story, Celebi still wanted to see if he could transform back, so he started imagining his old self, bringing up memories of his past actions...

At the same time, Sean felt something begin to tug at his head...

"_Permission to transform? Y/N" _The thought randomly popped up in his head, overriding the rest of his confused..._"Permission to transform? Y/N" _Sean shook his head in annoyance.

"_Jeez! What's with this- __Permission to transform? Y/N"_

_"Look, just let me think- _Permission to transform? Y/N"__

__"_Permission to transform? Y/N"___

"_ARGH!...Y?"_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Palkia watched with fascinated interest as the axew on the bed in front of her started glowing green, as if a green film had draped itself on him. Sean was doing something funny with his neck before he suddenly yelled out.<p>

"ARGH! Why?"

Instantly, the light green film began to glow brighter and brighter until Sean, his pokemon and Palkia all had to shield their eyes.

When the glow subsided, Sean opened his eyes to see the pokemon that was apparently Celebi's true form.

* * *

><p>"<em>Well, it worked." <em>Sean thought, rubbing his head.

His pokemon's response was not as reserved, as they hadn't (except for Ston, who had glimpsed Groudon once) seen a legendary before. Their gasps of shock caught Palkia's attention, and she walked over to give a full explanation, seeing as Sean's pokemon (apart from Skiera) had not witnessed the appearances of Arceus and Lucas. Lael immediately questioned Skiera, asking why she hadn't told them, to which Skiera puffed her wings in irration, asking Lael whether they would have believed her.

Meanwhile, Sean was deep in thought. What would happen if Celebi didn't want to change back? As that thought entered his mind, that same infernal (thought wouldn't really be the right word) message came barging into his head with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer hitting a marshmallow.

"_Permission to transform? Y/N"_

_"Oh no, not this aga- _Permission to transform? Y/N"__

"_Y! This thing could get so annoying if Palkia and Celebi find out they can spam it."_Sean thought, trying to scramble a train of coherent reasoning back together again.

As soon as he had given an affirmative response to the 'message', Celebi began to become enveloped in a green light again, before falling to the ground as an axew again. He said something in pokespeak.

"He said, 'why did you change me back so quickly? And next time you do that, can you make sure it's when I'm nearer the ground?'" Palkia translated.

"Sorry," Sean replied, a little sheepish. "I'm still getting the hang of this whole 'thing'." He gestured to all of himself.

"You just pointed to all of yourself!" Palkia said.

"Well, where am I supposed to point? You?"

"Touche."

* * *

><p>"Rush! Use Wing Attack!" I chirped back in affirmation as I flexed my wings in preparation and dived at the ponyta who was trotting (she didn't seem to be able to run that quickly) in circles beneath me. Trying to aim properly (that circular motion was really throwing my aim off). Flattening out, I managed to poleaxe the ponyta by smashing my wing straight into her neck, crushing her windpipe and forcing her to collapse onto the ground.<p>

"Huuhk!" She wheezed, rolling around on the ground. "That was a strong hit..." Eventually, she gave up trying to get up, and just lay on the ground, chest heaving.

"Yeah! I've got a new pokemon!" Isrea cheered, hurriedly pulling a pokeball out of her bag. While she did so, I decided to ask our new team member whether she actually wanted to join us, you know, team synergy and all that jazz—who am I fooling? I don't believe in that trash...I'm just curious, okay? A bird's got a right to be curious! So, I landed on her head (she had set the grass around her alight when she started rolling on the ground), careful to not land on any patches of flame...

"So, looks like you're coming with us now...I just need to know, do you actually want to? Just wondering..."

"Where the hell are all my pokeballs!" Isrea yelled.

Aron, who had previously been watching, jogged over to help as Steven landed beside me, figuring that the battle was over. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Myu (funny name for a girl, now that you think about it) approach us as well.

"Well...if a small bird like you can land such a strong blow...I'd like to come. I might actually get to meet some other fire types...cause here, there are only kricketot, zubat and geodude to talk to, none of which are very talkative. Oh, and machop. I guess they're alright."

"What's your name? Isrea'll probably give you another name, but we can still call you by your old one. I mean, Aron," Steven pointed at Aron, who had dropped Isrea's bag, spilling its contents on the ground, "calls me Scout, but everyone else calls me Steven."

"Oh...my mother called me Makybe, before...doesn't matter. Why are you called Steven? It sounds more like a human name."

"Long story. I'll explain later. What happened to your-" Steven replied.

"Got it!" Isrea pulled out a pokeball from the potions and other paraphernalia that had been spilt on the ground.

"Told you emptying the bag would help us find it..." Aron grumbled. Isrea tactfully chose to ignore him.

Makybe smirked. "It's a long story. I'll explain later." I could only laugh when I saw Steven's expression as he realised his words had been turned against him. Then again, it was a pretty tactless question, but who am I to talk?

Soon after Makybe had been captured, we continued on our way. As I flew, I heard Isrea debilitating over Makybe's new name.

"So...what should I name her?" As I was just saying, Isrea was trying to...whatever.

"I have an ide—"

"No! Your names aren't that great...I mean, you tried to name Scout 'Xanadu' or 'Petrie'!" Isrea cut him off.

You have got to be kidding. Petrie- no, wait, XANADU? I turned to look at Steven, who was pointedly staring off into the distance. "Really? Xanadu?"

"I really thought that would never come up again..." Steven bowed his head in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Firael or Alexa (hopefully Alexa, she's actually sane) had just been close enough to hear Isrea and simply collapsed on the floor, laughing.

"That's golden! I'm not going to let you forget that so easily!" She forced out between fits of laughter.

My attention was diverted from the laughing charmander to Myu, who was starting to speak.

"...knew a rapidash named Makybe...why don't you name her that?"

"Makybe..." Isrea turned the name over in her mouth as I looked on in confusion. How had she guessed Makybe's name? Or was it just coincidence?

"We'll see how she likes it..." Isrea finally finished. Myu cheerfully strode over to Steven, who was fuming (which was a bit rich, I was only planning to tease him a little about being called Xanadu), before speaking to him.

"Anyway, I'm sure Scout agrees with my judgement, don't you?" My curiosity was piqued further when Steven tensed up, before sagging in defeat (why?). He mumbled something which I could barely make out.

"Low blow, Myu...low blow..."

Hmm...I wonder what Steven knows that I don't? Ah well, who cares anyway? Where's Firael gone? I need to stay away from her, she's still angry over the jibe I made this morning, but it's true, you know. She really doesn't have much of a sense of humour.

* * *

><p>"Right...so we all ready to go now?" Sean asked during breakfast. Everyone bar Palkia nodded.<p>

"What about Celebi?" She gesticulated between mouthfuls of bacon.

"What about me?" The axew looked up from his scrambled eggs.

"You nearly died, for god's sake! But, that's all fine and dandy now that you've woken up!" Palkia snapped back, voice laden heavy with sarcasm. "We're staying here for at least a week until Celebi is definitely okay. It's not like we need to rush. The Elite Four don't reconvene for just under 6 months, a little after the Millennium Festival."

"But-" Celebi started.

"My decision is final, Celebi. We stay. Isn't that right, Sean?"

"Err...yes?" Sean nervously replied. He wasn't used to seeing this side of Palkia.

* * *

><p>Because the dunderhead that is Isrea let Aron navigate while the two girls could enjoy the scenery, we were all looking at the face of a sheer cliff.<p>

Isrea snatched the map from Aron to get a better look, while Steven and I flew up the cliff to see what was on the other side. I saw several rolling fields and a...

"Woah..." Steven, who was next to me, breathed out.

Stretching out for several kilometres before us, into the horizon, lay a flat white strip of...road? Hundreds of small dots and the occasional larger one (I assumed these were cyclists and cars) streamed up and down along the road, like an ant colony.

"It's so straight and...and unnatural! How long must it have taken them to build it?" Steven murmured, voicing my very thoughts. "I've never seen one of the cycling roads before, but this...this...wow...this beats downtown Manhattan..."

"Rush, Scout! Come back down! We gotta go back! Looks like _somebody_ went north instead of west." Isrea's voice drifted up from below. Taking one last glance at the gleaming road, both Steven and I swooped down in silence.

* * *

><p>From what Sonya could tell, from the small window out the front of the truck she was travelling in, it was nighttime. As soon as the plane had landed, her container had been hustled out, and she was given ten minutes in the toilet. Every 8 hours or so, she would get another one and be given some food.<p>

That meant that her safety was still a concern, which eased some of the discomfort in her mind.

* * *

><p>Night. As most of the trainers we had faced on our way to Oreburgh didn't really want to battle again, we managed to get halfway through Route 203 before Aron decided to pack up, something I (and obviously Rush, who had been nervously staying as far away from Firael as possible), wholeheartedly agreed with. Right now, everyone bar me was asleep, and as I snuggled out from Aron's grasp and walked out of the tent, I was trying to figure out why. I wasn't troubled by anything, but I just couldn't...sleep.<p>

Maybe flying might help...

Tensing my wing muscles, I bunch up and leap towards the sky. Since dying and...coming back, I had only flown at night once before, and that was back when every flap, every second in the air, was still a struggle. The night sky had a somewhat etheral quality to it that I can never truly describe; the lack of sunlight was probably a major factor. When flying during the day, the sun would occasionally get in the way, hovering on the edge of my vision unless I was flying directly away from it. While my eyes could cope with direct sunlight better, it was still irritating, but it was only now that I realised I had been squinting slightly when flying in daylight, and it was a great relief to be able to fully open my eyes while flying.

Soaring.

Now, as I flew, I could relax more than I had ever had in this life...

And maybe my past one as well...

Pushing myself higher and higher, feeling the cold air rush through my wings as I strove upwards, ever upwards.

Higher...

Higher...until the air started to thin and the cold became too much to bear. Where the stars touched the sky.

Realising that going higher would just risk causing permanent damage to myself, and finding it hard to breathe, I took one deep breath, closed my eyes, and flapped my wings once more, before pitching backwards (a flick of my tail) and descending into a dive.

On a windless night, the night sky is soundless. Giddy thoughts drifted in and out of my mind as I streaked towards the ground, eyes shut, wings outstretched, but curving in slightly at the tips...revelling in the inky blackness...with the only sound being the wind whistling through my ears...

Open. My eyes opened. I was a hundred metres from the ground-

Snap. My wings opened. I was fifty metres from the ground-

Extend. My talons opened, bracing for landing-

Touchdown.

After having stretched my wings, sleep was swift and welcomed.

* * *

><p>Kova had decided to pose as a university student who was gathering data on the success rates of trainers at certain gyms. It was a legitimate excuse, and his paperwork had arrived last night. Putting on some formal attire, he grabbed his laptop and headed for the glorified greenhouse that housed the Eterna Gym.<p>

Along the way, he decided to grab a cup of coffee to complete the image of the coffee-addicted university student. However, he neglected to take a careful look at everyone at the cafe (well, who would?) and, as a result, missed a familiar face.

* * *

><p>Rob had spent the past two days blindly searching for Kova before he gave up and decided to plan his search more thoroughly. After actually thinking through Kova's motives, he realised that he had missed one very important fact: Kova was looking for a trainer, probably a novice one.<p>

Where was the first port of call for a trainer (after getting lodgings and their pokemon healed)? Eterna Gym. Armed with this information, Rob had decided to give a quick going over of everyone who entered and left the Gym. It was perhaps ironic that he nearly missed his target, who had walked straight by him, because he was trying to make out the features on another person's face.

But that didn't matter. He had his target.

Now all he had to do was follow him.

* * *

><p>As I approached Jubilife City with Isrea, Myu, and all our pokemon, ANOTHER bidoof lept out, snarling at us to back away. I really didn't want to battle. Although it wasn't entirely my fault we went the wrong way (I didn't know how to read contour lines), I still wanted to reach Eterna by the end of the week, and Eterna Forest was going to take some time to get through.<p>

I sighed. "Look, we don't want to-"

"Bid!"

Fine then. If he wanted to battle, so be it. I glanced at Isrea, who nodded at me, indicating it was my turn to battle.

"Firael, you take the Bidoof on...really, you can do whatever you like..."

I still had some doubts about ordering her around, but Isrea's remarks about equality were correct. My charmander nonchalantly walked up the the bidoof, who diverted his attention away from us and at her, before taking a swipe at him with her claws. Immediately hissing, the bidoof backed away, and growled at Firael, who took a step back in surprise.

I was a little surprised as well, as most bidoof went down in one hit. The bidoof started running at Firael, head down, and she responded with a flamethrow-

What? Instead of firing out a stream of red and orange flames, dark blue and purplish ones came out instead. I saw my charmander's eyes widen in shock, and realise that whatever she had done was completely unintentional, but it still looked cool, so I said so.

"Cool. What was that?"

All Firael did was shrug. Weird.

* * *

><p>Rob carefully followed Kova into the entrance of the Gym, but couldn't enter as he didn't have a valid reason to do so. He had to make do with looking in through the windows outside. Working his way around the house until he could get a good view of the entire stadium, he spotted Kova taking notes, or appearing to, while watching a trainer's ralts getting ripped to pieces by Gardenia's roserade's Magical Leaf.<p>

"_Looks like we're playing the waiting game,then..." _He thought as he wondered how he was going to keep an eye on Kova without entering the gym itself.

* * *

><p>"C'mon guys, let's go!" Urgh...what the hell? Oh, it's Aron, who should be sleeping. Why does he have to wake up so early? Him and Isrea? I groaned as I struggled into a sleeping position, rubbing my eyes...<p>

"Ahh! Sstttooppp sshshhaaaakkkkinggg mmmeeee...I'mmmm aawwakkkeee!" I could faintly hear Steven's voice trail off as he was given a bit of a rude awakening. I mentally checked the minds of everyone at the campsite, making sure that no one was missing (Alexa/Firael still tripped me up sometimes).

I folded up my sleeping bag and, with some difficulty, managed to squeeze it into the little pouch it was stored in. Most of my stuff was already in my backpack, so all I had to do was go fix up breakfast with Isrea and Aron. I walked over to the used campfire, where the coals from yesterday were piled up, and pulled a pack of cereal out.

As we ate breakfast, I reflected on the past week and a half I had spent with Aron and Isrea. Oh, and their pokemon (especially messing around with Steven, who was an unexpected bonus). While it hadn't been the sort of fun I was looking for (no one was particularly playful in this group, Rush came the closest), just being with them was an experience. All the legendaries were mostly dour and reclusive, hot-tempered and rash, or too obsessed with petty feuds to be any fun to be around. One got tired of the same insults being thrown at every Legendary meeting. Not all of them were too bad though...the lati twins were always good for a laugh, and I used to spend tons of time playing with Victini...

But this was different. Everything and everyone here was more _alive, _more vibrant. A thought struck me then.

Was it because they were mortal?

It only took us about an hour to reach Jubilife City (we nearly made it yesterday, but in the end, we decided to just pack up and camp out), but we didn't spend long inside. A quick visit to the pokemart for some elixirs and then to the supermarket for food, and we struck off down Route 204.

* * *

><p>Sean had just come back from some training, and was grumbling about not finding a fifth pokemon that he liked. Soon afterwards, he left with Palkia to grab some food for dinner, leaving their pokemon behind in their motel room. Celebi had been watching the television, but Lael walked over and turned it off.<p>

"Hey, what gives?"

"Look, we'd like a more detailed explanation as to why you're an axew. Sure, we know you were transformed, but what we want to know is, why?" Lael asked, receiving nods from the rest of Sean's pokemon.

Seeing that he had no way out of his situation, Celebi began telling his story. He briefly touched on Steven's origins from another dimension, but mostly covered Lucas' journey to find all the plates, before Steven joined up with Lucas. He made sure to note that he intentionally neglected to inform Arceus of Steven's identity so that Arceus would still attack and kill all of those he felt deserved death. It was also why Lucas hadn't been harmed. The main point, Celebi stressed, was that because Steven came from a different dimension, Arceus had absolutely no idea who he was, and as such, couldn't distinguish between him and the Galactic grunts who were holding him captive. He neglected to mention the numerous personality differences between Stephen (now Steven) and the other Steven with whom he had swapped places with. When he finished, all of Sean's pokemon were looking at him with mixed expressions of shock, awe, horror and contemplation.

"How could you just kill him like that? You shouldn't have taken his place!" Lael was the first to find her tongue, and she used it like a whip. Celebi winced, but Ston came to his defense.

"And what would have happened if he wasn't killed? Team Galactic would have captured Arceus, and we'd be in a much worse position right now."

"So? How do you think Steven feels about this? He's dead!" Zoroa was on Lael side.

"Yeah, but you have to look at the pros and cons, sure, one boy was killed, but how many more do you think would have been killed if Arceus was caught?" Skiera finally weighed in with her opinion.

"What makes you think anybody would have died _if _Arceus had been captured? He's powerful enough to defend himself, and if they could only keep him subdued by freezing and paralyzing him, then either way, he can't do anything. Then the other legendaries could break him out, or something..." Lael trailed off.

Celebi decided to join in. "Look guys. In the end, I did what I did, and it seemed like the best idea at the time. I still believe I did the right thing, even though Arceus, Palkia and pretty much everyone else disagrees. However, consider one thing: Why would Galactic try to capture Arceus if they didn't have a way to control him? They're not that stupid. Oh, and Steven's still alive."

On that bombshell, Celebi left Sean's pokemon where they sat and returned to his pokeball.

* * *

><p><strong>Before I start, 'subconsciousnesses' is a monster of a word to type and DOES exist. You will not believe how long I was looking for the correct plural form of 'subconsciousness'. I don't actually think all uni students are coffee addicted (most?), but it was necessary for the plot. And I got a Top Gear reference in, but it's a little obscure. Also an obscure reference to How to Train Your Dragon and one other thing I can't remember...<strong>

**It's possible to walk on custard.**

* * *

><p><strong>ej92: You're right. I went and fixed that. Afraid this one is kinda short as well. Still, should be a Gym battle next chapter, and some other major things will happen (can't say because spoiler thingy...)<strong>

**Aleron's Sword: Apart from SAXTON HALE, the names of the medicines were all spoonerisms of common medicines (e.g. Panadol = Napadol).**

**Pichufan and Ryu Dragonclaw: Thanks for the review.**

**thewookie1: Thanks for pointing those two things out, even if the first one got ninja'd by ej92. Went and fixed both.**

**leygose: Oops, double negative. Indeed. She is very lucky, isn't she? Yes, really. The retirement thing is something I've been tossing around in my head for a bit, and the Inception-like dream was a complete coincidence. And Steven didn't get hurt! Oops.**

**Tsaukpaetra: As you just read, Warning isn't playing these mind games, but what he was is doing so, if that makes any sense. Shame on his origins!**

**TomatoSoupful: I would have replied with a PM but that's disabled, but I do my best to use British spelling. Problem is that Google docs is all in American, so I slip up here and there a little. (Mainly with my spelling of centre/er)**

**Cyberfire22: Thanks. Glad to see you liked the dream, I wasn't sure how that would come across.**

**ValeforXD: Oooh, was just about to upload when I caught your review...You're actually the only one to get it, but I got rid of it now...Mary is a lucky Sue, isn't she? Does this chapter make things better? CURSE YOU! I see what you did there...but HSC is not a good enough excuse, I'm afraid. Some things are more important than real life.**

**(Protip: This isn't one of them.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Tanon: So...anyone watch the Wallabies vs USA rugby match a few days ago? Pity about all the injuries though...<strong>

**Steven: Nah, don't like rugby.**

**Firael: What's rugby?**

**Alexa: What's USA?**

**Vendel: What's a Wallabies?**

**Rush: What's a injuries?**

**Firael: You don't know? How about I show you?**

**Steven: His grammar the good verb very sadly now.**


	26. Duality

**Okay...the feed back on the first person narrative has been both hot and cold. The main complaint was that you were finding it hard to figure out who was narrating. Although I thought I had enough clues at the beginning of each change in narrator, I didn't realise that you might not like hunting through a paragraph to figure out who is narrating. There are three more segments in this chapter that will be in first person, and then you won't be seeing it for some time. Hopefully they'll be better. **

**Disclaimer: It is impossible to have read this disclaimer. Currently, you are reading, and thus have not read this disclaimer. However, if you have supposedly 'finished' reading this disclaimer, you are lying to yourself, seeing as you are still reading it. Therefore, it is impossible to have read (i.e. past tense 'read') this disclaimer. **

* * *

><p>Stakeout.<p>

Needless to say, Neither Rob nor Kova were enjoying their stay in Eterna at the moment. Kova continued turning up to watch trainer after trainer get clobbered by Gardenia and walk away happily after she gave most of them her badge anyway.

It was depressing.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, as the Eterna Gym wasn't built for an audience, Rob had to make do with a vantage point from outside the huge greenhouse. After doing a few circuits of the greenhouse, Rob had to make do with a park bench about twenty metres from the greenhouse, behind where Kova sat.<p>

Rob let out his pokemon, seeing as he had nothing better to do, but he kept his gaze centred firmly on his target.

* * *

><p>Although he didn't really want to, Kova had asked Giovanni for another person to help him track down the charmander. He realised that he couldn't be sure where the trainer who owned the charmander would go after reaching Eterna City, because while most trainers headed towards Veilstone City for their third badge, a handful headed towards the harder Hearthome city before going through Pastoria City before getting the Veilstone Gym's badge fifth. If, for some reason, he missed his target in Eterna City, he wanted the option of sending a person down both possible paths.<p>

Unfortunately, Giovanni had taken it into his head that he wanted to reinforce his alliance with Team Galactic, and had phoned Saturn to get a Team Galactic grunt to help him.

* * *

><p><em>Hello...today isn't my turn to be in control, so Alexa's taken charge of our body-<em>

_Uh huh._ I was actually woken up in a conventional manner today, with Steven nudging me awake as Aron stretched his muscles beside us. I still felt oddly energised-

_From when we breathed out that blue fire.._

_I know, right? It was weird. _Soon after roasting that bidoof, everything seemed to become sharper, brighter, like I was on a sugar high...I kinda expected it to go away, but-

_It didn't. Hey, Steven's speaking to you. Pay attention!_

"Hello? Earth to Firael calling..." The taillow was waving his wings below at my face, jumping up and down to get my attention.

_Hmph. He only got it cause I was paying attention..._

_Shaddup. _I jerked my head and laughed. "Go away! Let's see how Makybe's doing." I was more interested in the ponyta than Steven and the others, mainly because she was another fire type. I mean, Steven, Rush and Vendel-

_Sort of. Vendel's not a flying type, but-_

_But he's a bird, okay?_ Anyway, I wanted to get to know Makybe a little better. We walked (well, Steven flew) over to where Rush and Makybe were sleeping. Vendel, who was awake, walked over to us and waved a flipper as a greeting.

"Hey guys...wanna help me wake Rush and Makybe up?"

_OOH OOOH! LET ME DO IT!_

_No._

_Aww...c'mon...just for a minute? You know you want to..._

_Fine..._I imagined my self falling away from my eyes, into the back of

_my head, as I felt Firael push forwards and take the reins._

_Thanks Alexa..._now, to Rush. "Steven, you go wake Makybe up...I've got Rush...I still haven't gotten him back for what he said a few days ago."

Steven turned away-

_Bet you he's rolling his eyes._

_He better not be. _I sneaked up to Rush, who was sleeping on his front, which ruined what I had planned to do. I wondered if there was something else I could do, and realised that it didn't matter, as long as I was fast enough.

I quickly tipped Rush over and grabbed his legs, before swinging him over my back. I was still feeling pumped from whatever happened the day before.

_He's a bit heavier than he looks, isn't he?_

_Whatever._ Now that I had done so, I expected Rush to wake up and start yelling at me, you know, to put him down. Instead he-

_What the-?_

Started thrashing violently, pecking at my back while yelling aloud all the time.

"NO! Don't take her! I don't wan- Where're you going...NO! I WON'T I-"

I winced as his pecking started to take its toll, and dropped him on the ground, where he convulsed as I stared on. Aron, Isrea and Myu came running over.

"Woah Firael, what did you do this time? Don't you think that's going a little far?" I spun around to see Vendel staring at Rush with a look of concern on his face.

"But I hadn't started yet! You sure he's not faking?"

_You mad? Anyone can see that he isn't._

_Fine, but what did I do?_

_Haven't got a clue._

_Real useful._ I tried to approach Rush, but he could hear everyone's footfalls, and screeched when anyone came within a metre or so of him.

"Here boy...it's going to be okay..." Then Myu stepped in. Surprisingly, Rush actually seemed to calm down, and didn't even start when he was picked up by Myu.

_Okay...how did she do that? He didn't even let Isrea near him..._

_You're right. _Myu was now stroking Rush, who still seemed to be asleep. _How can someone sleep through that? He was even making all the noise himself! _

_Err...Sleeptalking?_

_Yeah, real slick. Sleeptalking. More like sleepfits or something._

_Sleepfits. Your knowledge of the English vocabulary never ceases to amaze._

_Well, it was the best I could come up with! _Myu set Rush down, before speaking. As she opened her mouth, I noticed some mumbling to my left.

"...mubgnflgnnggn Myu mbftzzl showoff...powers...sdfiensome sort of joke..." He stalked off.

_Right...what's his problem? _

"It just seems like a bad dream. See? He's still asleep. Your charmander didn't do anything." Myu had been talking to Aron and Isrea while I watched Steven slouch off.

"But...how did you get him to calm down? He wasn't letting anyone near him, and you just waltzed in and picked him up! I don't understand..." Aron trailed off, before throwing his hands up in the air in frustration when the only response he received was a grin.

"Does this happen often?" I jumped. _Huh?_

_It's Makybe, you idiot._

I turned around to face Makybe, then I looked up. _Man, she's tall. She's over triple Steven's height!_

_Yeah, well, when we're both fully evolved we'll be about the same height._

_Yeah, but it's just weird, you know? I mean, we used to be the tallest pokemon here. _I shrugged at Makybe.

"Not really. It's the first time something like this has happened. You sleep well?"

"Yeah...we slept all right." _Yeah, no dreams this time..._

_Uh huh- HEY! I'm supposed to be in control! Your turn was yesterday!_

_Wha- Oh yeah...I'll just be_

_letting you...oh. That was quick._

_Whatever. _Makybe was looking at me with confusion. "Did you say 'we'? Don't you mean 'I'?"

_Hahaha...It's your turn today, so you've got to explain this to her._

_Shaddup._ I gave a shaky grin back. "Err...no. I meant 'we'. It's kinda long story. How about we talk about it tonight?"

She gave me a reproachful look. "What's with everyone and long stories? Steven still hasn't told me why the humans call him Scout, and now you've got some weird identity crisis! What's next?"

I snorted. "Well, Rush actually comes from a line of legendary staraptor and he's running away from an abusive family."

"No way."

"Nah, I was just joking. It was probably a bad dream or something- Woah!" I stumbled and nearly fell as a black shape blasted past me and darted upwards into a nearby tree, but ended up falling against. Rush.

_Oh, I'll get him for that._

_Just...not now! _Makybe nudged me back into a standing position.

Had he heard me?

* * *

><p>Sonya put a hand in front of her eyes, brushing away a few tattered strands of hair, to shield them from the light that they were now so unaccustomed to.<p>

"Come on now, pretty, Saturn's been waiting for ya." A gruff voice sounded out from behind her hand.

"_Saturn? So I wasn't kidnapped by Team Rocket then...but what would Team Galactic want to do with me? It's not like they knew what we were doing. Or did they know? Have they found out?"_

Sonya's deliberations were bought to a halt as she was led into an opulent office. Saturn sat at his desk, staring at her with oddly gleaming eyes. Eyes that hungered for something...

"Sit down."

Sonya did so.

Folding his hands, Saturn leaned over towards her, before speaking. "Now, Sonya Tanem, you may be wondering why you have been invited over to Veilstone City. The main reason for that is because you have something we want. We know where it is, but only you can give it to us." He chuckled. "Well, not only you, but it is by far the easiest option. I do have a large variety of psychic pokemon at my disposal as well, should the need arise."

Sonya could feel a sense of dread descending upon her. She was certain, by now, that they knew about her research. "W-What do you want? Where is-is it?"

Saturn leered at her, before tapping his head with one finger. "Knowledge, Sonya. That is all I seek from you."

* * *

><p>It was cool and cloudy at Faraway Island, and Lucas had, with the help of most of his pokemon (Lear was probably the most helpful, the gallade, having a humanoid shape, could easily handle all of Lucas' gear) managed to pack all of his gear up. He gave Faraway Island one last look, gazing out past the grassy plateau that they stood on, over the dull grey sea.<p>

Thunder boomed overhead.

"_I guess this is it...where I find out just what Rowan and Mew have gotten me into..."_

Sighing, Lucas extended a small pink arm outwards towards his pokemon, who put a hand, pincer or wing on it.

They teleported away as the first drops of rain began to fall.

* * *

><p>Rynade's phone rung. Groaning as he got out of his couch (ESPeoN sports had a really good game of tennis up. Nafael Radal and his ambipom were 6-5 up in the final set of the Antitican Open, one of the three major slams against Foger Rederer and his bulbasaur.)<p>

"Hello?"

"It's Titan. You are to track down the human-charmander. A Team Rocket member is currently stationed In Eterna Ctiy, and you are to help him track down the pokemon in question. His name is Kova."

"Sir."

* * *

><p><em>You know, this is probably starting to get monotonous.<em>

_You're right. Frying budew after budew loses it's charm after about the fifth time you've done so._ I thought as I discharged another particularly strong flamethrower at the poor leaf...thing that thought she could beat me.

My attacks have been a lot more powerful than usual, and, while extra oomph behind my attacks is welcome, it was still slightly worrying. What if I suddenly burnt out?

_Ohh...I see what you did there._

_Go stick your head in a bucket._

"Nice work Firael. You're lucky your typing's really helping you out." Aron said.

"Yeah. Lucky you...I think I'm next, aren't I? Ugh..." Vendel muttered, rubbing his shoulder where he had received a particularly bad cut from a razor leaf.

We continued on our way, battling any wild pokemon that decided that he or she wanted to challenge us, before my turn to fight came around again. Steven had just managed to defeat a kricketot within half a minute by bombarding it with the wing attacks he had learnt a few hours ago, and had challenged me to beat the next pokemon that we came across in a faster time, which would turn out to be a...

"Buiz!"

_..._

_...great_. I'm going to have my work cut out here just beating this buizel. I walked up towards the buizel, eying him warily, while trying to decide on a particular strategy.

_You have very good options._

_Shut up. I have two attacking moves: Flamethrower (Ember is out of the question, seeing as it's just a weak Flamethrower)-_

_YES! USE THAT. It is the best option!_

_Scratch,_

_No...no...Ember is better._

_Die in a hole. Or I could use that weird purple fire stuff... I don't know what typing it is, but it's got to be better than anything els-_

My musings were cut short as a water gun slammed into my stomach. I have been hit with water attacks before, but I still haven't gotten over_...wait...I've never been hit with a water attack before...that was Firael who has- oh crap!_

"Watch out!" Aron yelled as I was just fast enough to dive out of the way of the buizel's second water gun, but I had been seriously winded by the first one. _It was so cold..._

"Is that all you can take, fire lizard?" I looked up. _Ok, now he's asking for it._

I ran up towards him, rolling to the side to avoid another water gun, before attempting a flamethrower. However, instead of trying to breathe fire, I simply tried to breathe out air from where my inner fire-

_You suck at explaining._

_Whatever. _From where my inner fire lay. Luckily, I got the result I wanted, expelling a torrent of purplish 'flames' at the buizel, who staggered backwards, clutching at his head.

"What was that? That wasn't fire! My head..." he mumbled.

The fire had done a huge amount of damage to him, which allowed me to walk up and cuff him once around the head, and he went down easily.

"Ha. So much for a water type." I was feeling great. I had just taken down a water type without too much hassle and...

_Wow...what's happening?_

A white glow started enveloping around my body as my sight blanked out.

* * *

><p>Lucas and his pokemon materialised at Spear Pillar, startling Victini, who had just been walking past.<p>

"Hey, Mew! It's great to see you...long time no see, yeah?" He said, spinning round mid-stride and giving Lucas a playful punch.

"Erm...yeah, it's been a few years, hasn't it?" Lucas nervously replied. He hadn't prepared himself for the fact that none of the other legendaries (bar Palkia and Celebi, and they didn't count anyway at the moment) know who he actually was, and worse, that Mew seemed to be on good terms with all of them.

"_Why couldn't I have been one of the more reclusive pokemon, like...who was that one Cynthia told me about? G...Giratina! Yeah..."_

Meanwhile, Victini had begun speaking again. "A few years? You've really lost track of time, man. It's been about three hundred years! Feel like coming over soon sometime next decade?"

"_Three hundred years?"_

"Look...I...can we wait until after the meeting? Everything's going to be easier to explain after that."

"Whatever...we used to find these meetings so boring! What happened to you? Or..." His eyes narrowed in mock suspicion. "What have you done?" His ears (which nearly doubled his height) perked up. "Surely this isn't because you changed gender again, is it?"

"_...Mew is a transvestite. What." _Lucas knew he wasn't the only one shocked by such a revelation. He could sense the turmoil in the minds of all his pokemon as they tried to come to grips with a pokemon who changed gender whenever (s)he felt like doing so. In his peripheral vision, he saw, or rather 'felt' his pokemon start chatting to Lugia, who had been flying past, and psychically told them that they could do what they liked here.

"Hello?" Lucas blinked. He decided to try explaining to Victini that he wasn't Mew without explicitly saying so.

"Woah...sorry...drifted off there. Look, Victini, this meeting is about something Mew did but-"

"Speaking of yourself in third person now, huh? I thought only scyther and scizor did that." Victini interrupted him. "Have you been spending some time as one...oh no...you had babies! You didn't..." He finished with a smirk.

"What? Wait...WHAT? No! Yeeugh...just let me finish, okay?" Lucas shouted, waving his arms frantically at the grinning victini.

"Keep it down, ya furball! How can you still be so childish?" Lucas spun around frantically to find himself face to face with Cobalion, who had stalked over as Terrakion finished yelling at Lucas.

"I uh...Victini was jus-" Lucas started before being cut off.

"I couldn't care less! Just go somewhere else and for god's sake, stay quiet!" Cobalion yelled.

"**Legendaries, the meeting is about to begin. If you would find somewhere to sit or stand.**" Arceus' voice came booming out over the background chatter that had permeated throughout Spear Pillar, instantly silencing it as everyone moved to find someplace to sit or stand. Lucas noted that the legendaries didn't follow an exact seating plan; indeed, they seemed to be organised rather haphazardly. It was only after some careful observation that he noticed a method to the madness. Some obvious groups sat close together, like the lati twins, the Musketeer Trio (actually a quartet), the legendary beasts and the Kami trio (they floated). However, there were some groups that surprised Lucas like Mewtwo, Darkrai and Dialga who seemed to be close, and placed as far away from Giratina, who sat on her (Lucas guessed it was a she) own.

As everyone settled down, Arceus began to speak.

"**It would be foolish of me to inform you of who Mew is. The purpose of this meeting, however, concerns her-**"

"Her? You haven't told Arceus you've changed gender yet?" Victini hissed to Lucas.

"Just listen!"

"**and why she is not present at this meeting.**"

"I know you're going to say something, but just listen! Questions after and all that." Lucas held up his paw (how pitifully small it was) and silenced Victini as he was about to speak. Lucas could sense the confusion of some of the other pokemon who had noticed Lucas' presence, such as Keldeo, Lugia and Cobalion, but they refrained from speaking.

"**You see, Mew has seen fit to take a short...holiday, and she has left Lucas here**", Arceus nodded at Lucas, which made every other head turn towards him as well, "**to handle any tasks that would otherwise have to be undertaken by her. We all know what happened the last time such an occurrence took place.**"

"_What occurrence? He never said anything about this...but he did hint at the possibility that she wouldn't come back...oh no."_

"**This would normally be of no consequence, as the replacement would, like last time, become permanent. However, Mew chose her substitute without asking him whether he actually wanted to perform her role, which presents us with a dilemma.**

**Do we go against Mew's judgement and help Lucas choose another pokemon...or a human, or do we vote to keep Lucas in his current role, against his will?** **Please take into account the morality of your choices, but also the practicality of your decision. After all, Mew did choose Lucas as her replacement.**"

Victini turned to Lucas, eyes wide in astonishment. "You're a human?"

_"Oh yeah...because humans totally have pink fur, weird ears and probably the most useless arms in the entire world after serperior's ones. In fact, isn't the fact that I'm **not** a human the main problem here?" _Lucas sarcastically thought, but refrained from giving Victini a grilling for stating the blatantly obvious.

"I don't understand. Mew's holiday isn't going to be for very long. At the most, she'll be away for a few centuries or so. Why can't he just wait?" Dialga spoke up.

Lucas exploded (not literally, you idiot. That's not in his moveset). "What?"

"What?" Dialga replied cooly.

"A few centuries is ages! Everyone I know will be dead, you do realise that, don't you? And what's going to happen when, after everyone realises I've disappeared, or when, in a _few centuries_, I reappear, looking exactly like a pokemon champion who had vanished a few hundred years ago, with no means of identification? Don't you think that would raise questions?"

"_Do not speak to Dialga like that, human!"_ Darkrai shouted back, the words eerily bouncing around in Lucas' mind.

"**Darkrai, do not address Lucas like that. Right now, he is a legendary, and should be treated like one.**"

"Only if he starts acting like one."

"Start _acting _like one? So you want me to just start running all over the place, asking to play with people, and randomly ditch my form on someone else? Is that how legendaries act? Because, from what I've heard and seen of Mew, that's all she does!"

"Ha! He's got a point, you know." Shaymin interjected, eyes glinting with amusement.

"**Lucas has already proved himself. He did so when he saved Celebi's life. We must move on to the root of the problem. What do we do?**"

"It would seem fruitless to pursue any further course of action before we know what Mew's plans are. Does she want to come back? If so, it would complicate things further." All eyes turned to the far corner of Spear Pillar, where Genesect sat.

"Genesect is right. We should send someone to ask her. However, it would be prudent to decide upon two courses of action, one which is to be implemented if Mew is to return, and one which is to be implemented if Mew is to retire soon." Thundurus thundered.

"I'll go ask Mew. Groudon and Kyogre, at the moment, aren't trying to kill each other over some petty argument." Rayquaza said.

"**Thundurus is correct. So, you have had enough time to think this over. What should Lucas do? We are assuming that Mew will be away for a moderate amount of time...about a century. Rayquaza, you're probably the pokemon with the least to do at the moment, so you are probably the best pokemon for the job. Since we don't know where Mew is, you should probably just go somewhere in the middle of Sinnoh. Possibly somewhere between Route 210 and Route 215 would allow you to scan the most area, and it is a bottleneck that all trainers cross eventually. You should be able to sense Mew if she enters Route 210 from Solaceon or Celestic, or if she approaches from Veilstone.**"

"_This meeting is just getting better and better..." _Lucas thought.

Dialga was the first to speak. "I believe that if this state of affairs is temporary that Lucas should stay in his position. After all, we all know that Mew isn't stupid, and would have picked Lucas for a reason."

There was a murmur of agreement as most of the pokemon nodded their heads in response to Dialga's logic.

"**It seems as if we have reached a consensus. And what if Mew intends for the current state of affairs to become permanent?**"

"While this must be reasonably traumatic for Lucas, and I must admit that my grasp on the current situation is still a little shaky, I do believe that he should become a mew permanently if Mew decides she doesn't want to return. It would be imprudent for us to drag a third-party, one not chosen by Mew herself — and remember that those of us that have retired have always chosen our own successors — and force him or her into a slot intended by Mew to be occupied by Lucas." Lugia spoke up.

"But, regardless of how smart Mew's choice may be, if Lucas doesn't want to perform his job, it would be obvious that he wouldn't perform in it very well." Shaymin joined the debate on Lucas' side once more.

"Regardless, Lucas is only claiming a dislike for the position left to him by Mew out of a desire to return to the previous status quo. He hasn't spent a long amount of time as mew. Lucas," Lugia then turned to Lucas, "can't you at least try and see how this works out? Spend a year as a mew, and if by then, you'd rather still stay human, then, against my better judgment, we could get you to find another replacement."

"Me? But..." Lucas drifted off, realising that if he was going to be mew indefinitely, it would mean that he had inherited the right to choose his successor. "Fine. But, regardless of what happens, you guys must let me reconvene with the Elite Four and attend the Millenium festival, because after that I have a long stint where I can sort everything out...and if the need arises..."

He sighed.

"I'll have to fake my death."

* * *

><p>Our pokemon are doing really well, and Aron is whining again about the long trek. I mean, it's not <em>that<em> bad...I actually find it quite relaxing, especially on a day like this.

We had been slogging through Route 205, and it was good weather for it. I mean, it wasn't overly sunny because it was heavily overcast, but at the same time, it hadn't rained. All in all, we were in good spirits, because Makybe, Steven and Rush had had a field day with all the grass-types that lived there (Firael didn't get to do much because she was much better than everyone else and had already evolved).

I hadn't said so, but judging by Firael's evolution, and the rough amount of time that Aron and I had been training Rush and Vendel, that they were due to evolve soon. Vendel wasn't having too much fun with all the grass pokemon, but was managing relatively well. I don't think he'll be too useful, however, against Gardenia. Oh well...

It was still good weather, and it was with high spirits that we headed into Eterna Forest. Hopefully both Rush and Vendel are going to evolve soon...

It would be good for us to be able to get the next badge within just over a week of getting the last, but we'll just have to see how everything goes. We should get to Eterna by tomorrow night.

* * *

><p>Morgan squinted at the blinds which she had just open.<p>

"God it's bright! I can barely see!" Closing the blinds again, she plumped down onto her bed, placing a hand on her head. "Ugh...my head..."

Sonata tilted his head sideways slightly. "But it's cloudy outside...how can she be-"

"Quiet!" Adele shushed up the chatot. "The more sleep she gets, the faster she'll recover, and that's a good thing right?" The ninetales' eyes glinted strangely in the dim light of the bedroom, daring the chatot to say otherwise.

* * *

><p>I tuned out, absent-mindedly digging my hooves against the soft loamy ground as currently both Rush and Vendel were telling Steven and I how it felt to evolve. Don't they realise that I might not want to know? I mean, I won't evolve for a long time, and Steven's not going to do so for a bit as well. Sure, it might be cool for them, but...<p>

Anyway, Rush actually looks like he might be able to do some damage, instead of just being some little black puffball, and Vendel looks...grownup. He actually looks older than all of us, even though he is the youngest person among us.

It's weird, but with all the commotion going on with everyone evolving, I still haven't found out what was up with Firael and Steven. All in good time, I guess...

It was with these thoughts on my mind that I was lulled to sleep by the sounds of the city nightlife ebbing further and further away...

* * *

><p><strong>What will Myu say? Will she decide to retire? I've just realised that there were five lines in a row that all started with the letter 'I'.<strong>

**I liked how Firael/Alexa's part turned out, and it seemed like something different. So tell me what you thought about that, and how I tried to signpost the beginnings of each first person narrative better. However, I'm going back to third person for a while. First person is a chore to write.**

**While not much seems to have occurred, a lot of events have been set in place. Good luck figuring that all out!**

* * *

><p><strong>Pichufan: I guess, but I wanted the first person narrative to do that, because it's a little closer. Anyway, I'm going back to third person, so the point is rather redundant now.<strong>

**thewookie1: But then he can't kill. You can't attack when you drink BONK.**

**leygose: Well, hope you liked the signposting in this chapter better.**

**Tsaukpaetra: It was rather convinent, wasn't it? However, any connections you're trying to make between the two are definitely wrong. Just trust me. Heh heh heh...And you double posted on the same chapter...O.o**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: But you will...oh yes...**

**Cyberfire22: Yes, it was Dragon Rage, but I'm surprised no one noted that that meant that Firael, and by association, Rush and Vendel, were about to evolve. I actually did a few calculations to make sure the buizel would be nearly knocked out after one Dragon Rage...just to be sure.**

**azure blue espeon: Well, again, I hope this chapter did the signposting better.**

**ej92: But I like confusing disclaimers! And Isrea does have secret mind-reading powers. Loljk.**

**Teraunce: But...aww...XD.**

* * *

><p><strong>Rush: Oh yeah, uh huh...<strong>

**Steven: What?**

**Makybe: Oh no, not this again...**

**Rush: Look at me...I'm actually big!**

**Makybe: That's nice to know.**

**Steven: Yeah, but Firael's still bigger, and I believe she still has some unfinished business. Firael!**

**Firael: Hmm?**

**Steven: Rush is here!**

**Vendel: Here we go again...**

**Alexa: I need to see this.**


	27. Settle Down

**I've got some pretty important stuff to say in my Author's notes at the end of this chapter, so check those out.**

**Disclaimer: You have not read the disclaimer in the last chapter.**

* * *

><p>"Titan."<p>

"Sir."

"Currently, I have problem. That means _we_ have a bit of a problem."

"Sir!"

"You see, we have the equipment, the knowledge, and the manpower to achieve our goal, but we lack one thing."

"Sir?"

"We need a lab rat. Not immediately, but we need to start looking for a target. Prepare some dossiers on potential abductees."

"Sir."

* * *

><p>Rush bolted upright with a gasp, nearly waking Vendel, who was still softly snoring away beside him.<p>

'Gnnf...gerrofit!" Vendel mumbled, turning over in his sleep. Sleeping arrangements had become much more cramped after the evolutions of Rush, Vendel and Firael (Makybe didn't have much of an impact on sleeping arrangements as she slept on the ground), but an alternative system still hadn't been sorted out.

Rush glared around warily, before settling back down beside Vendel and going back to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Alexa lay down upon the grassy knoll that she and Firael were on. Since evolving, Alexa had noticed that while Firael had become a charmeleon, she was still part human, part charmander. While not breaching the subject on the very day that they had evolved, Alexa had finally decided to do so, figuring that even if Firael could give no answer, Warning might decide to pop up and give her a few clues.<em>

_"Firael?" She called out._

_"Mmm?" The charmeleon replied, staring out over the undulating hills that extended out into the horizon._

_"Have you noticed something about my form when we're here?" Alexa asked her._

_"Not really...why do you ask?"_

_"Well, I was just wondering, you see, since we've evolved, in here, you look like a charmeleon. But my form still hasn't changed. I still look like this weird cross between a human and a charmander." She sighed, exhaling a small puff of smoke. "Hey, that's new...I guess."_

_Firael turned around and looked at Alexa quizzically. "What are you talking about? You look like a charmeleon-human hybrid to me, not a charmander-human one. I mean, your skin's darker, your claws are longer now and even your head's got the weird horn thing I've got at the back of mine." She tugged at the horn-like protrusion at the back of her head._

_"But...what?" Alexa frowned. She got up and crossed to a lake that had always been there, but at the same time, had only just appeared. It was the nature of objects, in the pseudo-dreamscape that Alexa and Firael were currently inhabiting, to appear only when they were wanted or needed. However, in a sense, Alexa and Firael knew that everything was still there, but just out of sight, on the edges of one's vision._

_Alexa looked at her reflection in the pool, and, instead of her human face (one whose shape she was beginning to forget), she saw a charmander's face. However, it was still larger than usual, and her snout wasn't as pronounced. Her skin had been replaced by small scales of a bright orange, and her irises had expanded to fill most of her eyes, which were still the size of a human's. However, any trace of pokemon in her face was that of a charmander, not a charmeleon. Alexa couldn't even find the horn-thing that Firael mentioned._

_'What is she talking about?'_

* * *

><p>"It's time to WAKE UP!"<p>

"Wooh! It's still pretty bright, but I guess you guys want out, huh?" Morgan smiled at Sonata, Rynka and Adele, the chatot, bellossom and ninetales all nodding back vigorously. They had all been cooped indoors with Morgan, and everyone wanted to spend some time outside the stuffy motel room they were staying in.

"Well, I guess it can't do much harm, my head's pretty much healed up now, huh?" she muttered to herself as she ventured out into the city, heading for the nearest cafe.

_"I could do with a nice Eggs Benedict right now. With SPAM, because SPAM makes everything taste better. Mmm..."_

* * *

><p>Lucas teleported to Twinleaf after dropping all his hiking gear off at his house in Veilstone City. He knew that he had to visit his mother, but he was still grappling with the dilemma of whether or not revealing his new form to his mother was the right thing to do or not. He had already resolved to keep things a secret from everyone else, but this was his <em>mother.<em>

He took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

* * *

><p>"You're so slow in the morning!" Aron whined at Myu as he struggled to pull her out of bed. Meanwhile, Isrea had already dressed and was watching the other two humans inside the suite impatiently.<p>

"But I like being slow in the morning...meanie!"

"Tail ta ail LOWW!" The sudden squawk enmating from Scout and Firael managed to slightly distract Myu for long enough for Aron to give one last heave, the effort sending the two of them tumbling onto the floor of their room. Isrea stifled a laugh.

"Why is it that you want to stay up all night and not go to bed, but once you get there, you don't want to leave?" She said.

"I don't know! Stop logic-ifiying me!" Myu yelled in frustration as she clambered up from Aron's body.

"I'm not sure if that's even a word..." Aron mumbled.

* * *

><p>No way to win. After a few days of deliberation, Sonya finally gave up. There was no way she could convince them she couldn't recreate her experiment, because they knew she could. Hell, she knew knew that it would only take her upwards of five months to start and finish, but she didn't want to do so.<p>

The was no way to win, but no one liked losing, and while working slowly was only delaying the inevitable, Sonya still held onto a little spark of hope.

Maybe...just maybe.

* * *

><p>Aron, Isrea, Steven and Vendel were heading to the Eterna City Gym (Firael and Rush cited trouble sleeping and Makybe didn't do well in crowds due the fact that her mane and tail were comprised completely of flames, so they were in their pokeballs) when they heard a familiar voice.<p>

"Hey! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Oh no..." Steven grumbled as Morgan cheerfully waved at them. Steven was somewhat glad to notice that Morgan's dreaded camera was nowhere in sight, but nevertheless he figured that she had it handy somewhere close.

"Morgan! Why're you here? I mean, we're doing the whole Gym thing, but you've put that past you, haven't you?" Isrea called back.

A cloud seemed to pass over Morgan's face as her expression darkened slightly, but it quickly reverted back to her previous expression as she replied cheerfully. "Nope! I was scouting out Eterna forest for some photography. But then I got injured and so I had to stay here for a bit. Which reminds me..." By now, she was standing right next to them, and with hushed whispers, told them what she had seen, and the conversation she had heard them have over Firael.

Steven yawned, "Hmm...looks like Firael's a pretty popular pokemon name, huh? It's probably just some other pokemon named Firael."

Vendel shook his head. "But Morgan said that it was a charmander they were talking about..."

Steven shrugged (or tried his best to). "Whatever...We'll bring it up with her some other time."

* * *

><p>"What about this one? I think it looks good enough." Palkia said as she held a snowboarding jacket to herself as shoppers filtered through isles and isles of snow gear and other camping paraphernalia. Deciding that Celebi was finally healthy enough to travel, Sean and Palkia had set off for Snowpoint, before Palkia realised that she had no winter clothing. A short detour at the nearby department store district in Hearthome city resulted. Except that short detours are just that. Long, drawn-out nightmares where boredom stalked you around the inner depths of your mind, seeking to steal your sanity away.<p>

"Nah...grey doesn't look that good on you." Celebi muttered sarcastically while trying to look serious as he cast a critical eye over Palkia. Behind him, Sean was dozing off on a chair as a disgruntled shopper was trying to decide whether to wake Sean so that he could try on a pair of spikes.

"You think so? I thought that this jacket was...but I guess you're righ-" Palkia said as she moved to place the jacket back on its coathanger.

"NO! It's perfectly fine! Please, let's go! We're never going to get to Snowpoint if you're going to spend all your time trying on different jackets! Barely anyone's going to see you anyway!"

"Does that mean I can use the chair now?" The shopper asked them, before poking Sean in the ribs. "Excuse me, sir, but I think your girlfriend has finished shopping...can I use the seat?"

"Huh?" Sean murmured blearily, rubbing his eyes before squinting at the shopper. "You're kidding, right? Sharon can't have finished shopping, she's spent less than half an hour here!"

Palkia pouted. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

Celebi shook his head in despair. "The main purpose of asking a question is if you don't know what the answer is. You know the answer, so why bother asking?"

"So I'm not that bad?"

"No."

* * *

><p>"Good morning. Welcome to Eterna Gardens. What would you like?" The beaming receptionist with the all-to-perfect smile greeted Aron and Isrea as they entered the gym, Myu yawning behind them.<p>

"Could we challenge Gardenia?" Aron pointed at Isrea and himself. "Well, just the two of us. Myu and Morgan are just here to watch." Morgan had decided to come along, seeing as she had nothing better to do.

"Sure. Let me give her a buzz," the receptionist replied as she picked up a phone and started speaking into it. "Two more challengers... yes? Ok."

She looked back up at Aron and Isrea. "You can go through now. Hope you and your pretty taillow win!"

Steven rolled his eyes. "Always with the feathers...dammit Mew!" Myu simply smirked.

Once in, Aron called out his pokemon and hunkered down next to them. "Right...we're obviously not going to do as well as last time, seeing as the last gym was a team battle, and I don't know how much of a part luck played in the KO we got on that aerodactyl. I guess we won't go for anything too tricky again...but we do have the type advantage, so it shouldn't be too bad." He scratched his head.

"Ooookaaaay...Scout, you're fast and powerful, but you can't really take hits." Scout nodded.

"Basically, try and fight whatever she sends you like you normally do, by just hovering out of range and making fake passes overhead with wing attack until you feel you have a decent chance of landing one without getting hit...that's all I can say, really, seeing as you," he scratched Firael's head, "really can't do anything productive at the moment, except setting them on fire, which is really productive, so do that!" Aron chuckled nervously.

"So, we good to do this, or what?" Both Scout and Firael nodded.

"I'll probably start with Scout, but can both of you go back into your Glass Balls? Just so she doesn't know what pokemon we're using."

They walked out into the battlefield to face Gardenia, who was calmly watching them approach.

* * *

><p><em>Celebi lay inside his pokeball. He had spent the last few days in his pokeball, refusing to come out. Even though he hadn't revealed it to Sean's pokemon, what Lael had said had hit him hard. The truth was that Arceus probably could have handled himself even if he had been caught.<em>

_"But what if he couldn't?"_

_A soft chiming noise sounded, breaking Celebi's deliberations and causing him to look up, where an elaborately furnished oak and mahogany door now stood. He walked over and opened the door, revealing Lael behind it._

_"What the hell? Where did you come from?" Celebi jumped back in surprise._

_"Sorry, I don't use the pokeball link much, but you haven't been outside in ages. Any reason why?"_

_Celebi stopped and sighed, before slumping down onto the ground. "I dunno. I just don't know..."_

_Lael put the pieces together. "Steven?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Hmm."_

_"At least he's not dead, right?"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Yes."_

_"Hmm."_

_Lael sat down next to him. Not another word was spoken._

* * *

><p>As Isrea watched Aron walk out onto the battlefield, she called out Vendel, Makybe and Rush.<p>

"Makybe, I suppose that there isn't much strategy for you to work with. Just try and hit hard with your fire attacks. Rush, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, 'kay?" She scratched her head as she looked at Vendel. "There isn't really a lot you can do, Vendel, seeing as they hit you super effectively, and you won't do too much damage to them...I guess you could attempt to get in close and use metal claw or peck, but this is really an exercise in survival for you." She sighed, before pulling out her pokeballs. "All right, I'm doing what Aron did as well, seeing as he actually had a good idea for once."

* * *

><p>Kova's mind really wasn't in his job anymore. One could only watch Gardenia give out trashings so often before things got monotonous.<p>

It was coming up to the point where he could predict her moves with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

Kova yawned. Two girls came over and sat next to him. He ignored them.

* * *

><p>Gardenia's first pokemon was a jumpluff, a small blue ball with three cotton-balls sticking out of his sides and head. Steven was vaguely reminded of the atoms that his class had just started before he had...<p>

But he pushed those thoughts away, before taking off and circling the jumpluff from above, who waved at him.

"Hmm...a taillow, and a alternately-coloured one at that. I assume it's natural? You don't seem like the kind of person who would spend money on dye." Gardenia looked Steven over with interest. "Anyway, Nitratte, you know how to deal with flying types!"

Gardenia's jumpluff perked up and immediately began shaking his cotton-like appendages, letting a trail of white spores loose into the air as Steven swooped upon him, landing a solid hit with his left wing and knocking the cottonweed pokemon back a few metres. However, as he tried to pull up, he started coughing violently as his lung and wing muscles spasmed violently, and it was only after a sharp dip that he managed to recover and flap his way up to his original position. However, it was a great struggle.

"What was that? I can barely fly properly now!" Steven yelled at Nitratte, who waved at him again.

Gritting his...beak, Steven prepared himself for another dive, but every wingbeat felt like he was dragging them through treacle, and his dive was more of a plummet. Nevertheless, he managed to aim and used the jumpluff as a landing pad, the two pokemon becoming a jumble of feathers and...fluff.

"Oof!" Nitratte said. "At least you're not so heavy. I had a geodude fall on me last week."

"Ow. That must have hurt." Steven muttered as he pumped his limbs to get airbone again.

Gardenia frowned. "Well, I'm impressed. Your taillow packs quite a punch. No matter. Nittrate, throw some toxic spores into the air!"

In response, as Steven still struggled to get high enough for another wing attack, Gardenia's jumpluff started shaking his cotton...things...but instead of releasing a white trail of spores, he shook out a purple powdery substance.

"Scout! Stay away from the purple clouds!" Aron yelled.

"No, really?", Steven replied sarcastically, even though he knew that Aron wouldn't be able to understand him. "Stay away from the stuff the jumpluff released after his trainer asked for toxic spores? And I was just going to fly straight into it..." He flapped his wings harder in an attempt to disperse the cloud, but as he did so, the cotton spores did their work, and his left wing cramped up, causing him to begin corkscrewing downwards in a bundle of feathers.

"Arhg!" Steven yelled as he tried to stretch out his seized-up muscles. The wind rustled past him before-

Whump.

"Urgh...you landed on me again!" The jumpluff yelled as Steven landed on him again.

"Hmm...your taillow's not trying to use Body Slam, is he? I didn't think taillows were good at that technique.", Gardenia muttered.

_'Derp.' _Steven thought as he struggled off the flailing jumpluff and staggered a few metres away from him, head whirling. _'Awuagh...my head..."__  
><em>

* * *

><p>Aron watched as his taillow stumbled away from Nittrate before managing to get airborne again. "Scout doesn't look too good...has he been poisoned?", he thought aloud, as Scout started swaying all over the place.<p>

* * *

><p>Steven's headache wasn't getting any better, and his entire body began to ache. His vision was beginning to resemble an impressionist painting, as all the shapes in his vision began to blur together before...<p>

* * *

><p>His hand beginning to stray towards Scout's Glass Ball, Aron was joined by Isrea as she walked out, juggling her three pokeballs in the palm of her hand.<p>

"How're things going here?" She asked while waving at Myu, who had been watching the battle with Morgan from the sidelines.

"All right, but Scout's been hit with some kind of spore, and it's messing with his flying. I think he's just been poisoned actually." Aron replied, scratching his head.

* * *

><p>...his vision blanked out, only to be replaced with a darkened monochrome view of the entire gym and the people inside it, the smudges upon his vision having been replaced by crisp images of black on gray. Steven blinked, but his vision stayed that way.<br>_'At least everything isn't so fuzzy now...' _Steven thought as he righted himself for another wing attack. He felt even more sluggish compared to before, but decided that now wasn't the right time to dwell on such things.

"I think I've seen enough. Nittrate, use U-Turn to finish off that taillow!" Gardenia called out. In response, the jumpluff closed his eyes and a white parabolic dome began forming in front of his face.

_'What the...?'_

Steven hadn't expected the jumpluff to attempt a head on attack. As they were about to crash into each other, he closed his eyes and braced for impact.

* * *

><p>As Scout dived down towards Nittrate, he opened his eyes and jumped straight at the startled taillow, the dome leaving a comet-like tail behind it as the two attacks collided with a resounding boom and a flash of light as the dome dispersed.<p>

Squinting, Aron could make out the image of two pokemon plummeting towards the ground before...

* * *

><p>"WHY MUST YOU KEEP LANDING ON ME! Oh..." Nittrate began yelling at the taillow who had taken him down before realising that said taillow was knocked out.<p>

"Finally! You were getting annoying..." Nittrate poked the comatose taillow as he got to his feet before nearly getting back off them as he swayed dangerously, before taking a few tentative steps away from his opponent.

* * *

><p>"Wow, that looked like it hurt." Isrea said as they made out the image of a taillow sprawled out on the ground, with a jumpluff, looking decidedly the worse for wear, slowly staggering away from him.<p>

Sighing, Aron took out Scout's ball, recalled Scout, and sent out Firael.

"A charmeleon? Now those aren't rarely seen in Sinnoh, are they? Well, Nittrate doesn't really deserve to face a flying and a fire type consecutively, not after taking a hit from guts taillow. You did well, Nittrate. Return." Gardenia remarked.

"Guts taillow?" Aron asked.

"Don't you know what abilities your pokemon have? Your taillow's ability basically has him deal double damage if he is poisoned, paralysed or burnt. Theoretically, the same goes for being frozen, but you can't really attack when you're frozen, so the point is moot." Gardenia replied, rasing an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, abilities...I'd forgotten about Scout's one. It's just that I haven't had to deal with one yet, so...yeah." Embarrased, Aron fidgted with Scout's pokeball. They hadn't needed to deal with status aliments in the time leading up to the current gym battle. In fact, the only ability they had witnessed in action was Vendel's defiant, in a battle against a zigzagoon before they had reached Jubilife, where the zigzagoon kept on using growl and tail whip on Vendel, who seemed to get stronger and stronger after every growl and tail whip, much to the confusion of the zigzagoon.

* * *

><p>Alexa (in control) found herself facing a yellow and pink coloured cherrim in her sunshine form.<p>

_"Well, this looks like it's going to be an exciting battle. I forsee flamethrower and razor leaf spam." _Firael commented in her mind.

"Well, Firael, I guess your plan of attack's pretty obvious, huh. Use flamethrower...and then...use flamethrower. Yeah. Rinse and repeat. Ow!" Aron yelped as his head was smacked by Isrea.

"Stay focused!"

"Right, Cherrim, razor leaf in a fan formation, and just wear that charmeleon down! Don't let her get close." Gardenia gave her orders.

_"Told you."_

_'Shaddup.'_

_"Don't you just hate it when I'm right?"_

* * *

><p>Myu had been watching the battle unfold before her when the man sleeping next to her started and began staring intently at the battle.<p>

* * *

><p>"...Well, Firael, I guess..."<p>

_'...Well, Firael, I guess...'_

_'Well, **Firael**, I guess...'_

_'Firael?'_

Kova woke up. Had he heard what he had thought he had just heard?

* * *

><p>In the seconds between his finger touching the doorbell and the door being opened, Lucas thought.<p>

_'Everything is so...different.' _Lucas thought as he reflected on his walk down Clarence Street, towards his mother's home in Twinleaf Town. Although he had transformed into the image of his human self, his powers and abilities were retained in lieu of any new ones he would have gotten had he transformed into a pokemon, for which he was both grateful and ungrateful. Whilst he saw much more than he used to, heard much more than he used to, and could certainly smell much more than he used to, he could also see much more, hear much more, and smell much more than he wanted to.

It was a double-edged sword. While he would notice small details that had previously escaped him, and his mind could store those tidbits of information (like the colour of the shoes the man with the green flecks in his eyes had been wearing), he also saw other things that he really didn't want to see. He could see minute signs of rust forming on the guttering of some houses and better appreciate the high (or rather not so high) level of dentistry in the Sinnoh region every single time somebody opened their mouth.

His sense of smell had also improved. Food just seemed to be just that much better, but with the ability to experience wonderful smells with more vividness came the flipside of experiencing those more undesirable smells with the same increase in strength.

He could hear more, and he could understand what he was hearing better, as well. As much as being able to listen to pokemon chattering away in the background was a pleasant plus to his journeying, at times, it became a nuisance that hammered away at the back of his head. He could hear whispers, and was already privy to a few secrets he didn't really want to know about (there was a particularily disturbing one involving an onion, a crouton and a spanner. He shivered at the thought) and once...just once, he thought he had heard a pokemon cry out as his (her?) life was cut off by some predator. He had just told himself that it was his imagination, but still...

He could _feel. _

'_Help...'_

The feeble, final desperate cries of a injured...somebody...had carried over, and for those few moments, Lucas was enveloped by an overwhelming sense of sorrow. Of a life, about to be cut short.

_'Help...'_

He wanted the cries to end, so he wouldn't have to hear more, but at the same time, he didn't, for it would mean that the struggle was over.

The sound of the doorknob opening drew him out of the quagmire that represented his thoughts. Lucas composed himself.

_'What do I say?'_

* * *

><p>It had been five minutes, and Alexa was exhausted. She had been harrased and chased by those infernal leaves that that cherrim seemed to have an endless supply of, and while burning them away worked to some extent, one needed to take breaths between flamethrowers, while the cherrim could just shoot leaves all day without any real reason to stop.<p>

_"Well, this has certainly been a throughly engrossing battle. I'm glued to the edge of my seat." _Firael's voice echoed through her head, laced with sarcasm.

_'Shut up...I'm trying to focus on the glorified T-shirt that keeps on throwing green stuff at me.'_

_"Indeed. You can use other attacks apart from flamethrower, you know."_

_'Like what?'_

_"Like smokescreen. It's just a suggestion, but hey, you can keep letting yourself lose by a thousand paper cuts if that's the kinda thing that floats your boat."_

_'You know what? That's probably the most helpful thing you've said to me in the past week.' _Alexa thought as she took a deep breath of air and quickly exhaled, smoke billowing out of her mouth and nostrils as she did so.

"Keep firing everywhere! She can still get hit! Also, watch for her tail! Use it as a beacon." Gardenia called out.

_"Well, that's kinda screwed my plan." _Firael grunted.

_'Not really. I could just crawl, seeing as the cherrim is just shooting her leaves in a flat sweep at chest height.'_Alexa replied, getting onto all fours and tucking her tail under her legs, so that her tail flame was now heating her neck up as she crawled, puffing out as much smoke as humanly (although, she mused, that was probably the wrong word) possible. Eventually, she found her self crouched next to the cherrim who was firing blindly all around her as she saw phantoms dancing in the murky depths of the smoke.

Alexa stood up. "Hey you! There's something on your face!"

"Huh? Where are you-" The cherrim's reply was cut off by a fist crashing into her face.

"IT WAS PAIN." Alexa shouted manically as she gave the poor cherrim a working over with her flamethrower. The smell of burnt cabbage filled everyone's nostrils.

"Argh!" The cherrim yelled, before sticking out an arm and pointing it at Alexa's feet, where a vine reached out and pulled her feet out from under her.

"Nice grass knot. I've seen enough. Now, use your pyrotechnics combo!" Gardenia ordered.

_"Pyrotechnics? But that's supposed to involve fir- ARGH!" _Firael's voice in Alexa's head was cut off as an immense flash of light enamated from the blossom pokemon. As Alexa tumbled backwards, clutching her eyes in pain, she heard a high pitched whine coming from the general direction of the cherrim.

"I have four words for you, charmeleon. IMA CHARGIN MAH LAZOR!" The cherrim yelled as she let of a gigantic hyper beam that Alexa never saw coming. In the split second before she blacked out, she heard Firael murmmur something in the back of her head.

_'Well, that was out of character for a cherrim...'_

* * *

><p>Steven was back in his Glass Ball when he came to. As he did, his entire ball was lit up by a flash of white light from outside his ball. Having covered his eyes, and being further away from where Gardenia's cherrim had used Flash, Steven regained use of his sight just in time to see Firael or Alexa feel the brunt of a huge hyper beam.<p>

"Ow. That must have hurt."

* * *

><p>The door opened.<p>

"Lucas! It's been ages since you last visited! You've got to tell me what you've been up to!"

_'You have no idea...'_

* * *

><p><strong>Okay. Basically, after looking at the way this fic has been going, I have to say that I'm less than pleased. It was probably an oversight on my part, but I've gone and started turning what was supposed to involve multiple storylines into one of many many many trainer journeys across Sinnoh. It's not like I've got anything against trainer stories, but I don't want to write one. Not only that, most of the alternate storylines are about to enter a stalling period (can't say why XD), so you'll lose all of that as well. In general, what I'm working up to is that I really don't want to write about Aron getting several badges and about all the stuff that happens during that journey, because that wasn't what I set out to write.<strong>

**What does this mean? It means that the length of this fic is going to shorten because I'm going to introduce a large time skip (not unlike the one in chapter 7, but maybe over two chapters instead of one) after a few more chapters so I can pick up at the point where things would have gotten interesting again.**

**This actually does happen, but the fic length still snowballed to 43 chapters. Oh well.**

* * *

><p><strong>Cenobia100: I hope everything's cleared up from that PM, then.<strong>  
><strong>ej92: Yes, you have too much time. Also fixed up my failures. I always seem to make sum, and 4 teh luv of god I can't seem to find any of them!<strong>  
><strong>Ryu Dragonclaw and Pichufan: Thanks for the review!<strong>  
><strong>leygose: Hmm...thanks! And don't we love a bit of melodrama?<strong>  
><strong>Cyberfire22: Well, Steven won't evolve for a little longer, because the times at which they evolve are still roughly based upon bulbapaedia entries for what levels they do evolve at.<strong>  
><strong>valeforXD: Actually, seeing as it's been around 5 weeks since my last update, I'm progressing at about your update rate. You should be proud.<strong>  
><strong>Tsaukpaetra: You and your review shenanigans. You have not read my disclaimer.<strong>  
><strong>Anon: Well, if you were to leave some form of contact behind, I could explain my point of view to you, but seeing as you didn't even leave a user behind for me to search for...well...what am I supposed to do?<strong>  
><strong>Diamond Unicorn: The chances you'll ever read this are extremely slim, but I'll be interested to see how you responded to my PM. I see your point, but I believe my arguments are just as valid.<strong>**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Rush: Man, I really enjoyed seeing Firael getting decked by that hyper beam! I believe that you just got pwnt.<strong>  
><strong>Steven: Really, you haven't faced her pokemon yet. How can you say anything?<strong>  
><strong>Rush: Because I have a mouth and vocal chords. How do you speak?<strong>  
><strong>Steven: That's not my point. I hope you get curbstomped next chapter.<strong>  
><strong>Rush: Nah. Not happening.<strong>  
><strong>Firael: So happening. <strong>  
><strong>Rush: Oh really? At least I'm not going to get myself hit by a hyper beam like you did. OW! Why'd you hit me?<strong>  
><strong>Firael: LEVEL UP!<strong>  
><strong>Alexa: asdfmovie...<strong>

**Makybe: I want to defenestrate you all.**


	28. Daylight Robbery

**Notice: Note the lack of a disclaimer, which you must notice has been replaced by a notice, which, as noted, is here to notify you of the lack of a disclaimer, which has been replaced by a notice, the purpose of which is to make you notice the lack of a disclaimer as it has been replaced by a notice as this notice is here to make you...**

* * *

><p>Pluto had been a prisoner for longer than she cared to count. She had been kept in a cell of sorts, but she wasn't being treated badly. Quite the contrary. Her room, while sparse, contained some gym equipment and a television, which included cable and a large catalogue of DVD's, some of which she was certain hadn't been released yet. Giovanni had explained to her that she was a bargaining chip, which was why they had kept her under lock. When she had refuted that suggestion, saying that Saturn didn't even really want her back, she swore she saw Giovanni's eyebrow twitch. She felt like she wanted to scream. She barely got to talk to anybody, and she was not one for idle chatter anyway.<p>

But she wouldn't scream. _'I won't let them win. I'm better than these people. I won't.'_

'_I won't.'_

* * *

><p>"You know...you've only just earned yourself this badge. It was very close." Gardenia said as she handed over a green badge, which consisted of an emerald-coloured square with two smaller squares, attached to two adjacent sides. "Whilst you acquitted yourself well, more so with your charmeleon as cherrim is my second strongest pokemon, you did possess super effective moves against both my pokemon, so that wasn't much of a surprise. However, you nearly didn't do enough simply because you need a bigger team. Most trainers already have three to five pokemon by the time they reach my gym, and you only have two. I believe that Maylene, on principle, doesn't give out a badge to any trainer with less than four pokemon in their team unless she loses six pokemon in a one-on-one battle against a trainer, which hasn't happened before."<p>

Aron gladly accepted the badge, saying, "I guess...also, do you know where to get Cut? I heard you used to hand that HM out, but that it got too expensive to continue doing so."

"Ah, they're in the souvenir shop with all the other HM's. However, you're only qualified to own Cut and Rock Smash." She snorted.

"What?"

"Well...it's just..._Rock Smash..._It sucks."

"Oh. Well, thanks anyway! Good luck, Isrea! I'll watch your match after I grab a HM. We'll just share it." Aron yelled out to Isrea, who was making her way to the battlefield.

* * *

><p>As they headed towards the Landing Bay in Hearthome City, Palkia looked worriedly at Celebi. The axew hadn't spoken to anybody for several days and he seemed extremely downcast as he wearily shuffled along, with Lael walking beside him.<p>

"You all right, Palk- Sharon? You seem...I dunno, down." Sean and Palkia had spent the last night debating the difference between 'Sharon' and 'Palkia'. Eventually, they had just decided, for simplicity's sake, to only use 'Sharon'.

Palkia shook her head, waving a hand in Celebi's direction. "Nah, I'm fine. It's Celebi I'm worried about. He hasn't said anything for days."

* * *

><p>Isrea decided to get the worst part of the battle over with first. There wasn't much point in prolonging the inevitable, so she sent Vendel out first.<p>

"Come on Vendel, every second you stay up is an extra point for us, figuratively speaking, of course. The points are a lie." She said as Vendel cautiously walked out to face a bellossom.

"A prinplup? I don't really see any strategy that would result in you leading with a prinpulp, but whatever." Gardenia remarked as Vendel ran at her bellossom. "Halua, you know what to do."

* * *

><p>Lucas hugged his mother.<p>

"Yeah, I've been up to quite a bit." He sighed.

His mother noticed the action and with a concerned face, she beckoned for the dinner table, "Is everything alright? Don't worry, you can tell me everything."

'_Can I?_'

* * *

><p>Vendel closed the distance between him and his opponent in a reasonably short time, and was surprised that he hadn't been knocked out yet. He knew that the only attacks he could feasibly use were Metal Claw (he didn't know why it was named as such — he didn't have claw) and maybe Peck, and as such, he promptly started throwing punches willy-nilly, his flippers leaving short dancing white trails of light behind them as Halua evaded every single wild swing.<p>

'_Dammit! Why. Won't. You. Stay. Still!' _Vendel thought as he continued throwing punches, all of which were avoided with ease.

'_Okay then, time to mix it up.' _Vendel bought his head back for a peck, and managed to score a hit, knocking the bellossom backwards slightly.

"Hmph. You took your time." She said as she closed her eyes and quickly spun around, sending several leaves whizzing towards Vendel, which he only just avoided.

"Hard to hit, eh? Let's see your happy feet after you get a whiff of this!" This time, the bellossom squirted a liquid from the flower on her head, which dissipated into the air.

"Vendel! Move away from that stuff! Whatever it is, it can't be good!" Vendel heard his trainer's frantic call, and began to run away from Halua, but just before he could, he caught a whiff of something sweet...

'_Woah...that smells really nice...' _Vendel stopped to get a handle on the intriguing smell, as several leaves slashed at his body.

"Arhg!" He yelled as he stumbled backwards. However, his movements seemed a little slow, and everything in front of him was tinged a funny shade of yellow which wavered slowly, as though he were underwater. Try as he might, his reactions seemed to have slowed down, and he only managed to dodge another salvo of leaves before copping an entire bunch of leaves to the head.

As his vision began to darken around the edges, and he felt Isrea call him back to his pokeball, he wondered aloud.

"What was that smell?"

* * *

><p><em>Firael and Alexa, both groggy, both came to in their Glass Ball.<em>

"_Ugh..." Firael mumbled..._

"_That was not our finest moment." Alexa agreed._

_"I have to admit though, that lazor thing was unexpected..."_

* * *

><p>The next pokemon Isrea decided to send out was Rush. As she did so, Gardenia withdrew her bellossom and sent out a green humanoid pokemon with flowers for hands, one of which was blue and other a lilac colour.<p>

"Rose! Use sword dance! Let's end this quickly." Gardenia shouted. Rush rolled his eyes.

"Really? Rose? What kind of name is that? Couldn't your trainer have been a little more creative? I mean...that's like giving me a name like 'Star' or...I dunno." Rush asked the roserade, who looked a little put out.

"I _like_ my name." She said as she started dancing, wildly waving her arms around as a red glow began to emanate from her body.

"Hit her while you can!" Isrea yelled.

'_Huh, bit of a no-brainer, that call.'_ Rush thought as he dived in for his strongest attack. His Wing Attack collided, and it was with some pleasure that he heard Rose grunt in pain.

"You're lucky I'm not going to take you down right away, but you're not going to stay out here for long...not after what you said about my name! And you mussed up my left bouquet of flowers...I never liked you flying types." Small thorns were tossed out onto the field as she engaged in banter with Rush.

'_I guess it's time for another Wing Attack...'_

Again, Rush slammed into the roserade, who stumbled backwards from the blow, but recovered quickly, wincing as she touched her shoulder. She angrily glared at the staraptor who had now retreated to a safe distance above her.

Then she started spinning.

'_¿?_¿?__¿?_'_

The roserade's spinning soon got so fast that she looked like a spinning top, before a veritable storm of pink petals flew out from her body. Try as he could, Rush couldn't help but get slashed by several of the petals as they flew past. To his surprise, they did a huge amount of damage, and he immediately sagged in the air as he tried to right himself once again. It was then he realised that the roserade was going to use the same attack again, which he knew would knock him out.

'_Oh well, might as well go down fighting, huh.'_

He went in for another wing attack. It connected. Then he got connected with and everything went pink.

Then black.

* * *

><p>Rynade sighed as he landed in Eterna City.<p>

'_Well, I'm here. Now, where was this Kovic guy again? At least, I think it was Kuvoc...ah whatever...' _He checked a slip of paper. _'Ah, Eterna Gym. Makes sense, I guess.'_

He recalled his murkrow and began making his way to the gym on foot.

'_Why is it on the other side of the city! This sucks.'_

* * *

><p>Once Lucas and his mother were seated, she repeated her previous question.<p>

"Well son, what have you been up to? You seem worried."

Lucas let out a sigh. "A lot. Mum, there's something I have to tell you."

His mother looked thoughtfully at him for a moment, and Lucas wondered what she was trying to discern before she suddenly shouted out, "Oh, that's wonderful, Lucas!"

'_Huh?'_

"So who's the lucky girlfriend? Is it D-"

"No! It's got nothing to do with that! Just...Look, I can't tell you how it...it happened, but I'm...different now...part psychic...and because of all that, things have been pretty busy. I may have to be away for a lot longer next time." Lucas interrupted.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Lucas! You don't seem that happy about it. I mean, you can read minds and do things with your mind. You know, like..." Lucas' mother vaguely twirled a finger in the air.

"Why should I be happy abou-" Lucas started, before realising that, six months ago, he wouldn't have minded possessing psychic abilities, let alone secretly masquerading as a legendary pokemon. "No...it's not exactly like that, but I can't say more. I'm so sorry."

His mother reached out and clasped his hands, staring into his eyes. "I...I wish you would tell me, but in the end, it's your decision, and you're old enough to make them yourself. You mentioned that you might be visiting less often? You only come about twice a year, as it is! If things...don't work out, when do you think you'll be able to visit next?"

'_A few centuries?'_ "I...I don't know. In a few years?"

It broke his heart, seeing his mother's eyes soften around the edges. It betrayed the sadness that she felt, and he could tell that doubt was settling in, that maybe, maybe, her son didn't want to be with her anymore. That was hard for Lucas to deal with, but what was even harder was the knowledge that he had probably shot too low.

'_But I should be able to take a day off, can't I? But I can't, because Lucas the human will have to disappear. To her, this will be the last time she sees me if the whole mew thing falls through.' _Lucas thought with a heavy heart.

"I u-understand. But you'll stay the night? It's getting late." Her voice was almost pleading.

"Of course!" Lucas was only too happy to oblige.

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't start getting any ideas and look into my head, or I'll know!" She tried a smile, but Lucas could tell that the joke was forced.

What made it worse was the fact that Lucas knew that she wouldn't.

* * *

><p>Isrea, down to her last pokemon, sent Makybe out, the ponyta taking a brief look at her surroundings before locking eyes with her opponent.<p>

"What is it with you two and super-effective pokemon? Do you have a grudge against my gym or something?" Gardenia frowned.

Isrea chuckled. "Nah, you just got unlucky...or maybe we just do hate you! Nah...'hate' is a strong word. I just really really really don't like you."

"Very funny. I've dealt with fire types before, like you saw with your friend's charmeleon. Rose, Rain Dance, please. Then you can do what you like."

"Makybe, hit that roserade with your strongest attack while she isn't moving! I guess we'll have to play it by ear after that."

* * *

><p><em>Rush woke in his pokeball, staring straight up at the artifical sky that stretched across the 'top' of the ball. Sitting up, he saw that he was in the grassy section of his pokeball, and he could make out his obstacle course to his left. He got up and turned right, heading for the garden with the stone door embedded in the ground.<em>

* * *

><p>Vaiel and Drats were amicably discussing the intricacies of Aqua Tail, the vaporeon and dragonair slowly heading north-west when a glint in the sky caught Drats' eye.<p>

"Woah, w- what was that?" Drats stammered.

Vaiel craned her neck upwards to see what Drats had been talking about, and was just quick enough to glimpse a flash of green among the clouds.

Or had she?

"I don't know...I might have seen something green, but I don't know..."

"Ok-kay then..."

* * *

><p><em>As Alexa sat herself down near the edge of their ball to watch Makybe battle, Firael decided to try and snatch a bit of sleep, seeing as she couldn't have nightmares if Alexa stayed awake.<em>

_However, a blue charmander appeared next to her. "You know, that's only delaying the inevitable. Anyway, the dreams aren't so bad now, are they?"_

"_Go away."_

"_I would, but there's just this shiny door here, and I really think you should walk through it. Call it a hunch."_

"_Go away. How can you have a hunch? You're our subconscious!" Firael yelled in exasperation._

"_No. This is your hunch. I'm just a...a proxy here to deliver it. How do you think you have hunches anyway?"_

"_Err...they just come?"_

"_Exactly! Now go through the door already." Warning folded his arms._

* * *

><p>'Makybe started sprinting at Rose before diving forwards into a forward roll as the flames on her back erupted into flames, which wrapped around her. As her entire body blazed, she began to gallop, before tipping over forwards into a forwards roll, heading straight for the roserade.<p>

Rose was still concentrating on her Rain Dance, and as such was unprepared for the mass that rammed into her side. However, she had, by then, already managed to coax some rain from the clouds that had formed under the roof (no one questioned what the clouds were doing there — apart from raining, of course) which managed to dampen the ferocity of Makybe's flames. Not really having any other option, apart from Tackle and Ember, Makybe went for another Flame Wheel, which the roserade deftly sidestepped. This process repeated itself several times before something occurred to Makybe.

"_I must look pretty stupid while doing this attack. I mean, I'm a ponyta, and I'm doing forward rolls to move around? Why not just..."_

Like before, she lined up a Flame Wheel and started rolling at the roserade, but when she was only a few metres away, she shot out her front two hooves, body still on fire, and abruptly changed pushed off to her left, unfolding her hind legs as she did so, hitting Rose with a flame-assisted tackle.

If she expected to hear a cry of pain, Makybe would have been disappointed. All Rose gave her was a short grunt as Makybe cannoned into her. However, she was more surprised when Rose swung herself onto Makybe's back so that she was now riding on top of Makybe...bareback.

"Ow. That has _got _to hurt." Aron muttered as both he and Isrea watched the still blazing roserade swing herself onto Makybe's back.

Isrea barely managed to reply. "Impossibru!"

Then, the roserade drew back her left arm and conjured a leaf shaped object which shimmered and glowed in an eerie way as all the colours of the spectrum danced across it, before slashing at Makybe's neck with it, instantly knocking the ponyta out. She then pushed herself off the tottering horse and lay flat on the ground, letting the light drizzle that still fell from the roof of the building put out the fires that were still smouldering on her body.

"Well, that was unorthodox!" Gardenia concluded brightly, clasping both hands together as she walked towards her roserade to help her get back up. Isrea recalled Makybe and walked over to where Gardenia stood, where Gardenia looked up and suddenly laughed.

"Ha! I guess you're here to see if you got the badge? Well, you did. While, like your friend, you had two super-effective pokemon, I was actually impressed by how your prinplup managed to fare against another grass-type. Anyway, here's your badge. Have a nice day!" She handed Isrea a replica of the badge that Aron had received.

* * *

><p>"<em>Come on, Alexa, let's go."<em>

"_Huh? Go where?"_

"_Through this door, silly. It looks like Rush's."_

"_Why not the other two?" Alexa pointed at two other doors that lay some distance away, which lead to Steven's and Vendel's pokeballs._

"_Because this is closer. Let's **go**."_

* * *

><p>"Hello? Nikolai speaking."<p>

"It's Giovanni. Assemble your team. You're going to Sinnoh to finish what Sonya started."

"But...Sonya was the brains of the operation! It was her brainchild. Without her, we actually can't do very much."

"Why do you think you are going to Sinnoh?"

"..."

"Very well. You have three days to pack and make your way to the Susashimi airport in Saffron City. Tickets arrive tomorrow."

"Sir."

*click*

* * *

><p><em>Alexa and Firael found themselves staring at a stone door set in the ground.<em>

_It was ajar._

"_Well, Rush isn't anywhere here...so he has to be in there, right?"_

* * *

><p>Kova followed Aron, Isrea and Morgan out of the gym. This was too good a lead to follow. He had almost been certain that he had heard 'Firael' mentioned, which was the name that that other trainer he had met in Eterna forest had mentioned. He cursed himself for his complacency, annoyed that he had failed to make the connection between a chameleon and a charmander.<p>

'_Never mind. It's probably better that I tackle them now, when they don't have any pokemon that are strong enough to fight.'_

'_But how? I can't confront them in the middle of the city...'_

* * *

><p>Rob folded up 'Ploy: The Development of Battle Strategy in the Past Decade, by Luu Sing Streak and Tun Szu', and frowned. He didn't really have any evidence to prove that Kova was not all he seemed to be.<p>

He had to settle with following Kova, who was unwittingly stalking Aron, Isrea and Morgan. They turned off the main road.

* * *

><p><em>What the hell are you doing here?<em>

_Alexa and Firael spun around, panicked. They had gone through the door, only to have it shut behind them and abruptly disappear before the 'room' around them, which previously had been black, began to light up in a whirling kaleidoscope of colours._

"_What was that?" Alexa whispered. The...suggestion seemed to emanate from everything at once, and was not so much a thought or fragment of speech as it was a state of existence. To them, it seemed as though the suggestion _was _the room. As she spoke, wisps of red began to shoot towards her, which she tried to swat away as the colours in the room began to alternate between blue and red with varying amounts of frequency._

"_I don't know...Warning, I'm going to kill you!" Firael growled. More wisps of colour began to float towards her._

"_Why?" Said charmander appeared behind her. "Oh...erm...what is this place?"_

"_Why don't you tell us?" Firael shouted as she lunged at Warning, or rather, tried to. She realised that there was no ground to lunge off, so she ended up doing a sort of a swimming motion at the bemused blue charmander, who chuckled._

_The room became a darker shade of blue, which eventually faded into black. Suddenly, a small incandescent bulb flashed on, revealing a very surprised Alexa, Warning, Firael and an even more surprised Rush, who had been standing at the foot of a small gravestone. Squinting in the harsh light, he asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"_

"_..."_

"_Erm...well, we just decided to drop in, y'know, seeing as we didn't have anything else better to do..." Alexa trailed off._

* * *

><p>Several minutes after Kova had left the Gym in (an albeit slow) pursuit of Aron, Isrea and Morgan, Rynade arrived on the doorstep of the Eterna Gym. After a few more minutes of fruitless searching inside the gym and its surroundings, he decided to just give Kova a call.<p>

"Yes?"

"Kova? It's Rynade, from Team Galactic."

"Oh, you." The curt statement didn't really fill Rynade's mind with thoughts of a happy and peaceful working relationship together.

"Yes. Me. Where the hell are you?"

"Meet me outside Eterna near the eastern exit. That's where I'm heading. I'll be a while because I've...ugh...sprained something..."

'_What?'_

"Uh...okay."

* * *

><p>Pluto had had enough. She had had enough of Team Galactic, of Team Rocket. She wanted to leave, and she wanted revenge.<p>

On Saturn.

'_How am I to escape?'_

She glanced at the door.

'_Hey, the door's unlocked, right?'_

With purpose, she strode towards the door of her 'cell' and pulled on the handle.

It was locked.

'_...pootis.'_

* * *

><p>Kova decided to stumble again, nearly dragging Aron, whose shoulder he was resting on, down with him. Kova had decided to fake a sprain of sorts while jogging past them, and asking them to help him back home. They had, of course, offered to take him to the pokemon centre for treatment, but he had responded by saying that it was a common occurrence (and that his weak ankle ran in the family) which would go away after a few hours of rest. Luckily, for him, they didn't question his somewhat shaky logic, and they were quickly approaching the exit of Eterna City.<p>

When they were isolated enough, Kova planned to snatch the charmander's ball and make a run for it. He was currently trying to find out which one it was. He knew that it belonged to the boy, so it was really a 50/50 chance.

"Sorry...my foot just twinged a little." He mumbled behind clenched teeth.

"Nah, it's okay..." Aron replied.

Kova cocked his head, as if he had just noticed Aron's pokeballs (which were on his belt). "Hmm...I see you're a trainer...what pokemon do you have?"

'_Hopefully he'll just point to them.'_

Aron gestured at his belt. "I've got a taillow and a charmand- charmeleon, sorry. She evolved a few days ago."

'_Damn. Why couldn't he have pointed?'_

"A charmeleon? That's not a common pokemon in Sinnoh. I assume she was your starter?"

"Nah...I found her in the back of her", Aron pointed at Isrea, who was talking to Morgan, "parents' rented minivan."

'_Okay, this has to be the charmander we're looking for. Except she's not a charmander anymore. Whatever.'_

"Care to show me? I haven't seen one except for what I get on TV and off the internet."

Aron's hand strayed towards a ball, before he hesitated.

'_Bingo.'_

"Actually, she's out of action at the moment. The two of us only faced Gardenia a few minutes ago, so she's not exactly in shape."

"Oh." Kova tried to feign a tone of disappointment. "That's okay then. It was nice enough of you to help me back home."

* * *

><p>Rob was extremely worried. He knew what Kova wanted , and so once Kova had abruptly started running at the three trainers he was stalking, he had told Rai to prepare himself, but couldn't do anything until Kova struck.<p>

Kova, Aron, Isrea, Morgan and Myu had, after several minutes of walking, left the sprawling mass of Eterna City behind them and were now walking down a small park trail that had branched off Route 211.

"Where did you say you lived again? This is kinda far from Eterna city, you know..." Myu said.

Taking a quick glance around to make doubly sure that they were on their own, Kova led them to a small clearing, before snatching Firael's Glass Ball from Aron's belt and sprinting off.

"Hey! What?" Aron stood where he was, dumbstruck, as Isrea brushed past him in pursuit of the thief, closely followed by Myu and Morgan.

"He was faking, silly. Don't just stand there gawking! Help me get Firael back from that thief!"

"Oh." Aron set off after Kova.

* * *

><p>"<em>Is that your reason?" Rush huffed. "Outside, you hit and chase me around like I'm some sort of plaything, and I don't really complain because sometimes I deserve it. But here? This is private! Did I invite you in? Alexa, you used to be human, so what would you have done if you had walked out of a shower to find someone waiting outside? <em>

"_I..." Alexa blushed (or tried to, it was hard to tell)." But that's different! That's because I wouldn't be wearing much, and it's..."_

"_Private? SO IS THIS! Get out of my ball!" Rush yelled._

_Firael and Alexa both ran out of the crypt and into the door that led into their own pokeball just in time to hear Isrea shouting at Aron._

"...help me get Firael back from that thief!"

_Stone-faced, Firael looked at Alexa. "It's Team Rocket. They're obviously still after us."_

_Alexa shrugged. "Yeah, but what can we do?"_

"_Really? You two don't know what to do? It's quite funny, really." Warning piped up, startling both Firael and Alexa, both of whom jumped onto him. _

"_About that incident in Rush's ball..." Alexa growled...taking the words out of Firael's mouth._

"_Ehh...you don't suppose you'll let me off if I tell you how to slow the thief down?" Warning wheezed._

"_I'll think about it." Firael said...surprising Alexa, who hadn't expected Firael to be so conciliatory. _

"_Well, this is a Glass Ball, right?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Why don't you just exit it?"_

* * *

><p>Myu debated with herself, unsure of what she wanted to do. She could use her (albeit somewhat limited, as she wasn't technically a pokemon anymore, but a psychic human) abilities to help get Firael back, but it would blow her cover and possibly turn Aron and Isrea against her.<p>

_'I'll just wait and see...if no other opportunity presents itself, then I guess I'll have to use them...'_

* * *

><p><strong>Pichufan: On Steam presumably. Can't quite afford myself a plane ticket.<strong>

**leygose: Nope. You can't have too much asdf. Ugh...I tried to pronounce 'Fireael', and it's not pretty. I'll stick to the proper spelling.**

**thewookie1: Well, he would have, but he's outside the gym and lacks the All-Seeing Glasses of Awesome (+1 Str, +1 Wis, 9000 X-Ray). I never understood how clothes could give you wisdom or gloves dexterity (they usually make things harder)...score one for game logic!**

**Cyberfire22: Fixed the things you pointed out and tidied up that Lucas paragraph, and I have to be honest with everyone...I knew next to nothing about the Dream World, so, for all intents and purposes, the Dream World (as envisaged by Game Freak) does not exist! And of course shoop-da-woop cherrim was overdone. In what context can 'IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR' not be overdoing things? ;-)**

**ej92: Fixed everything, and hopefully only one gym battle left in this story. Oops, I shouldn't have said that. XD**

**Cenobia100: Thanks for the review, although it did seem like it was randomly cut off.**

**Tsaukpaetra: Proposal rejected on the grounds that the usage of 'theretofore' didn't actually tackle the logic inheritent in my disclaimer, which you have not read. Also, for a change, your guesses are a little off. (Except for the capture attempt, that was spot on, but everyone should have seen that coming).**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Thanks, although battles are a little dull to write when only low-levelled pokemon are on one end.**

**ValeforXD: SPAM? EVERYONE LOVES SPAM. There's a daily routine, isn't there? I hoped you like how I did Lucas. It ended up pretty angsty, because making the conversation awkward didn't seem right.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: You know what? I agree with ValeforXD. At the rate Tanon's going, this fic will be finished by 2015.<strong>

**Rush: You really sure you want to say that? I'm sure Firael can vouch for what happened the last time she tried something like that.**

**Firael:...**

**Rush: See?**

**Steven: Tienes razón ... ¿qué diablos? ¿Qué pasó?**

**Makybe: Ooh, Spanish? At least he can still speak. From what you guys told me about what happened with Firael, this isn't so bad.**

**Steven: Estás bromeando? Esto es terrible!**

**Alexa: I don't think you understand. This isn't actually true Spanish.**

**Makybe: It isn't?**

**Vendel: No. It is the worst form of Spanish that ever existed.**

**Rush: Worse than the spanish accents that Hollywood tries to have their taxi drivers use.**

**Vendel: No. It's worse than that. What Steven is speaking in...is Google Translate Spanish.**

**Makybe: Oh...oh my.**

**Rush: Truly a terrible fate.**


	29. Merry Christmas Everyone!

**Disclaimer: The author also wishes to wish everyone a happy Constitution day for those who live in China, a happy Malikh festival for the Nakh peoples of Chechenya and Ingushetia, a Quaid-e-Azam's Day for the Pakistanis and finally, a happy Ḥănukkāh for the Jews that celebrate it. This disclaimer is also here to, in advance, apologise for any holidays that the author has forgotten about because Wikipedia didn't mention them. :D**

* * *

><p>Rob had the advantage of expecting Kova to make a move, so he was the first to respond. He decided to cut wide, figuring that the children would be able to find Kova unless he tried to dart off into the forest, where he would be waiting.<p>

* * *

><p>Puffing slightly, Kova frantically looked left and right in an attempt to find a hiding spot where he could take cover for a few minutes to catch his breath and head off in the opposite direction. What he didn't want to see was Route 211.<p>

'_Damn. I thought I was running away from the main road. Still...' _

Any further thought was interrupted by a red glow that came from his hand.

"What the..."

Kova could only goggle at what had happened as his brain took in what he was seeing. Before him lay a charmeleon.

* * *

><p>Rayquaza knew he should have been actively looking for Mew, but he knew that mew was not one to hang around, and also, because of that, that she would eventually come across his resting spot, as it was a chokepoint. He closed his eyes and allowed an updraft to push him ever so higher...<p>

'_I wonder what your answer will be.'_

* * *

><p>Isrea had thought she had lost the 'injured' man until a red glow several metres to her left gave away his position. If that wasn't enough, then the next thing she heard was.<p>

"What the..."

"Cmon! He's just there!" She beckoned Aron, who had overtaken Myu (who looked exhausted) and Morgan (who had stopped to release her chatot for scouting) over, and pointed to the source of the red light, over which a small column of smoke had started to form.

* * *

><p>"Cmon! He's just there!" The muffled shout was all Rob needed. He headed for the source of the voice. Looking up, he saw a few wisps of smoke.<p>

'_Could that be Firael?'_

* * *

><p>'<em>I guess I'll have to carry her, then." <em>Kova thought as he bent down to pick up the comatose charmeleon, before stamping out the fire that her tail had started among the long grass and dried leaf litter that was strewn all across the ground.

'_It's probably a good thing no fire types live here...this forest wouldn't last very long.'_

"Cmon! He's just there!"

Kova glanced behind him, just in time to see one of the girls that that boy had been travelling with dodge around a tree and come running at him with the aforementioned boy right on her heels.

'_Damn, I can't outrun them while carrying the charmeleon...I'll have to keep them away with weezing and crobat.'_

He grimly sent out both of his pokemon as Morgan and Myu also barrelled into the clearing, the latter limping slightly.

Neither Aron nor Isrea knew what to do. Both of them knew that their pokemon were all in no shape to be spending time outside their respective balls, let alone battle, and seeing Firael slung haphazardly over the thief's shoulder only confirmed those thoughts. However, a ninetales and bellossom appeared to face the weezing and crobat, much to the thief's surprise.

"Whose pokemon are those? I thought that all your poke-" The thief started.

"They're mine. Why do you want the charmeleon anyway? They're only rare in Sinnoh, and really easy to get in Kanto and Johto." Morgan grimly said. She had her suspicions, but couldn't be too sure.

"You wouldn't understand. Weezing! Smog!"

Morgan reacted faster than even she expected. "Adele! Use Safeguard! Rynka, Magi-"

"Rai, Volt Switch!" Morgan never got to finish her orders as several things happened at once.

Adele opened her mouth, shooting a lime green beam which fanned out a couple of metres around the ninetales and the bellossom that stood beside her.

Weezing exhaled a purple gas, but it was nearly see-through (thanks to Adele's ability, Drought) and dissipated upon contact with the shield that Adele had formed.

Rynka figured out what her trainer wanted her to do, and fired a stream of magical leaves at the weezing and crobat.

Isrea, figuring that she might as well do something, picked up a stick and threw it at the crobat, which, while it didn't hurt him much, distracted him for long enough for-

Rai, from out of nowhere, to go careening into the crobat, the momentum sending the two pokemon into weezing, knocking them out of the path of Rynka's magical leaves and into Isrea ("Oof!".

The magical leaves went flying into Kova instead, who instinctively put his arms (and dropping Firael in the process.) up to shield himself as-

Rob charged out from the side of the battle and crash tackled Kova to the ground, knocking Firael's Glass Ball out of his hand.

Myu, who had edged to the other side, saw an opportunity to help without using her psychic powers and dived for the ball, recalling Firael and throwing the ball at-

Aron, who wasn't watching, thus taking the ball directly in the head (it made a rather loud plonking noise).

"Ow."

* * *

><p><em>Firael and Alexa found themselves inside their pokeballs again.<em>

"_We shouldn't be here! Stay out as long as possible!" Alexa yelled, as both of them headed for the door._

In the short span of a few seconds, what previously looked like a rather heated battle had degenerated into a farce. Isrea was groaning under the weight of three dazed pokemon (one of which wasn't doing her nose any favours), Morgan and her pokemon were staring confusedly at the battlefield, wondering why her opponents were suddenly several metres further away than they were supposed to be, Kova and Rob were rolling around on the ground, Myu was admiring her throwing skills while getting to her feet, and Aron was rubbing his head.

"RUN! I'll hold him off! Just get Firael away from him!" Rob yelled.

Aron was the first to respond (seeing as he was in the best position to), so he turned around, nearly tripped over Firael, who had released herself behind him, picked up her Glass Ball, recalled her, and headed back to the relative safety of route 211.

Myu saw Aron leave and ran over to Isrea, dragging her out from under the pile of pokemon she had found herself under, as Morgan hesitantly recalled her pokemon.

"What are you doing? Go!" Rob yelled again. It was enough to spur Morgan into action. She quickly sprinted off after the sound of Isrea and Myu's footsteps.

She forgot to call Sonata back, forgetting that the chatot was still scouting for Kova.

* * *

><p>"<em>Back in here again? Lets go out!" Alexa groaned. However, a shout from Warning stopped them.<em>

"_Just...stop for a second. You're with Aron, so calm down..."_

_Firael peered out of the ball. "Oh...yeah."_

* * *

><p>"Wh...who was that?" Aron asked.<p>

"It was obviously a thief, silly." Isrea replied.

"No, not him! Who was the other person?"

"Probably some person who happened to be passing by...who felt like stealing your pokemon?" Myu said.

"Possibly...he did sound familar though." Morgan muttered, slightly doubtful.

"Then how did he know Firael's name?" Aron responded.

"...Good point."

* * *

><p>Rob and Kova had grabbed hold of each other and were rolling around, Rob trying to stop Kova breaking his hold and pursuing Firael and Kova trying to do the exact opposite. Once Rob saw that the kids were out of sight, he kicked Kova in the stomach and rolled away, Zask's and Scythe's pokeballs in his hands. He let out the ninjask and scizor, who stood and faced Kova's weezing and golbat as Rai slowly picked himself up off the ground, shaking his head.<p>

"Can't you just give up?" Kova asked.

"Why would I when I've just found her?" Rob shot back.

"True, but those kids are probably gone by now because of you. Neither of us are any nearer than we were this morning to finding that charmeleon."

"Do I care?" Rob asked. He was about to answer his own question in the negative, before hesitating. "Well...yes. But what matters more is that you don't find her again."

"Oh, spare me the sob stor-" Kova was cut short by a ringtone sounding out. He picked up. "Hello- Oh, for crying out loud! Use the GPS on my phone, or look for explosions or something!" He tucked the phone away. "Sorry about that. Where were we?"

* * *

><p>Aron, Morgan, Isrea and Myu quickly hurried back to Eterna City, passing no one save a rather worried looking man on the way back. They had resolved to stay the night and meet the next morning at Morgan's hotel, where they would quickly head for Hearthome City to challenge Fantina. While Fantina was usually fifth in the Gym Order for most trainers, the gyms at Hearthome, Pastoria and Veilstone city were generally interchangeable, and it was the easiest route to take.<p>

* * *

><p>Rob and Kova found themselves on opposite sides of the clearing with their pokemon out before them.<p>

"Zask, use substitute so we have something to hide behind if that weezing explodes again." Rob ordered. "Scythe, double team."

A stone statue of a larger-than-life ninjask appeared before said pokemon as Scythe's outline began to blur and split into several copies of itself.

Meanwhile, Kova had ordered a confuse ray on Rob's scizor and told his weezing to start spewing smog everywhere so as to start wearing down Zask's substitute.

A yellow beam struck Scythe, the scizor stopping his double team abruptly and staring around confusedly as Rob's ninjask launched himself at Kova's golbat with a series of Fury Cutter attacks.

"Zask! Don't bother! Your attacks won't do much against either of them! Baton pass to Rai and Rai, use thunderbolt." Inwardly, Rob cursed. _'Damn. I'd promised myself not to use that strategy any more.'_

'_Smog is inflammable.' _Kova realised what would happen just before it did. "Wait! No!"

'_Smog is flammable? Oh shit.' _Rob was a quick thinker, but Rai had already launched his thunderbolt attack at Crobat, who was hovering next to weezing, smack bang in the middle of Weezing's cloud of smog.

Rob and Kova both hit the deck as a huge 'Wuumph' sounded out and the entire cloud of gas went up in flames.

* * *

><p>Rynade was a worried man. After being yelled at by Kova because while they were supposed to meet outside Eterna City and he couldn't see Kova, it was his fault, and being told to use the GPS locator, Rynade had tried to do so, only to find that his phone ran Dandroid whie Kova probably ran on one of those newfangled diOS systems.<p>

Then he heard (or rather saw) an explosion.

'_Ah, much better!'_

Now, navigation was easy,

* * *

><p>Sonata saw an explosion and duly headed towards it, expecting to find his trainer and the children she had attatched herself to at the site of the explosion. He was disappointed, but realised that he had seen these two trainers before. He perched, unseen, on a high branch, and started listening as they picked themselves off the ground.<p>

A soft blue glow started to radiate from his head.

* * *

><p>Rob and Kova both stood up at the same time to survey the damage. Scythe was out, his typing having been no match for such a large fireball at such a close range. Kova's crobat had also been knocked out, mostly due to the thunderbolt attack that Rai had fired at him.<p>

His mind was slightly frazzled, but Rob knew that, with a two to one advantage, he had the upper hand. "Rai, thunderbolt again, this time on the weezing, BEFORE he gets too much smog out... Zask, substitute again...there isn't much you can do, really." As he gave his orders, he quickly recalled his scizor.

Rai shot a thunderbolt attack at the weezing—who had just levitated himself off the ground—knocking him back down, just as a black blur dived out of the air and knocked out Rob's ninjask before he could set up a substitute.

"What?"

"About time you arrived...you may want to use something other than your murkrow for this battle." Kova grimly said, walking towards the stranger.

"Some gratitude would be nice, seeing as you told me to go to two places, both of which had a conspicious lack of you," Rynade got off his murkrow and pointed an accusatory finger at Kova. Rob used this distraction to recall Zask, now extremely worried as Kova started whispering something to Rynade, who looked hesitant.

'_I don't think Rai's in a very good state after that explosion...I have to take out that murkrow out before he starts throwing some dark attacks at Rai...' _Rob thought, cradling Zask and Scythe's pokeballs in his hand as he thought.

"Murkrow, use protect!"

"Weezing, explosion!"

'_Oh crap, not again.' _Rob thought. He had just enough time to drop the two pokeballs he was holding, pull out Rai's ball and recall Rai before the shockwave hit him.

* * *

><p>"Well...what are we going to do with him?" Rynade said as he stepped out from behind the shimmering shield that his murkrow had put out.<p>

Kova nudged Rob's prone form with his foot. "Eh...I don't know. I'll call Giovanni."

"Why not call Saturn? He's probably more likely to handle it better."

With an exasperated sigh, Kova threw his hands up in the air. "You're probably right."

* * *

><p>Saturn picked up.<p>

"Hello?"

"Sir, it's Rynade."

"Yes, you're meeting that Rocket member, aren't you?"

"I'm with him, but we currently have a slight problem. I'll give the phone to him, he can explain."

"And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

"Just call me Kova. We've knocked out a trainer who also has been searching for the charmeleon that the two of us are looking for. I know him to be her previous owner, and personally, I think that he needs to be removed somehow. I had found her, but due to his meddling, she has gotten away again."

Saturn frowned. "How is he, currently?"

"He's knocked out."

Suddenly, Saturn had a flash of inspiration. "I'll tell you what. I'll send Titan over to pick him up. I assume she is with a trainer?"

"Yes. How do you know that?"

'_Lucky guess.' _"I just do. Well, do you know his or her name?"

"No. I know what he looks like, but not his name, or that of his companions."

"Hmm...I'll get Titan onto that. Has your trainer been through the Eterna Gym?"

"Yes. Wait, I do know his name! It's Aron Silpha."

"Silpha? I've heard of that name. Well. Just stay in Eterna until Titan takes this trainer off your hands. This Aron won't really be able to go far without us being able to track him, now that we have his name."

"Sir."

"Good."

Saturn hung up and dialed another number.

"Titan?"

"Sir."

"I assume you have been working on a list of potential abductees for me?"

"Sir!"

"They are no longer needed."

"Sir?"

"I have one. Meet up with Rynade in Eterna City. I've sent his number over to you."

"Sir."

* * *

><p>After Rynade had left on his murkrow to rent a car (so that transporting Rob back into Eterna city would be an innocous activity), Kova dragged Rob's body further from the road, just in case a travelling person might want to wander off the path for some reason.<p>

'_That, and it'd be a little tricky to explain the reason why this place looks like it's been bombed.'_

As he left, a chatot fluttered down and landed on the ground, searching for two objects.

* * *

><p>After landing at a petrol station to get some lunch and use the toilets, Palkia took Celebi outside and around the back.<p>

She sat Celebi down in front of her as she herself dropped into a cross-legged position on the ground.

"Ok. What's the matter with you?"

* * *

><p>As Kova left with Rob in the Golkswagen Volf that Rynade had driven up in, neither of them noticed a chatot leave with two pokeballs clenched tightly in his talons.<p>

* * *

><p>Celebi shuffled his paws awkwardly. "It's just that...sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing with regards to Steven..."<p>

"What do you mean? We needed him! We still do. You of all people should know that."

"No...I mean... what am I saying? Of course! We still effectively killed him!"

"And? He was going to die anyway."

"Oh, that's just callous."

"It's true."

"But-" Celebi started, but Palkia inturrupted.

"Whether you like it or not, we both know it. It may have been morally wrong to tell him what would happen, but at least he's not dead. You have to accept that." Palkia put her hands on the axew's shoulders. "Okay?"

"Yeah...ok."

"Good. Now, we don't need to keep dwelling on this, right?"

* * *

><p>Sonata couldn't find Morgan anywhere nearby, so he decided to cut his losses and head for where his trainer was staying.<p>

'_Things are going to get interesting...'_

"Sonata!" Morgan yelled upon seeing her chatot touch down again. "I wondered where you had gone...what's this?"

Sonata had dropped two pokeballs into Morgan's hand.

"Lets go see Isrea and the others."

Myu had just left the motel to pick their pokeballs up from the pokemon centre when she saw Morgan briskly walking over towards her.

"Hi! Why so eager to come back?" She winked.

"I think my chatot has something you might like to hear."

* * *

><p>"<em>...<em>_She escaped! Why do you ... eurgh! Why do you...anyway?...You LIE! If you were searching for a charmander in Sinnoh, what's taking you so long? How many charmanders do you even think actually live in Sinnoh? If you're going to lie, at least think of something convicing!...Oh, the irony...I have to thank you for helping me find her again, but I must bid you farewell! Adieu! Weezing, Explode. Golbat, Protect." _Silence reigned after Sonata finished his chatter recording, before he launched into another one.

"This was recorded in Eterna Forest and why I got laid out...it was lucky that Sonata had thought to use his Chatter attack then." Morgan said.

"_..."Murkrow, use protect! Weezing, explosion!"_ Sonata did his best to replicate the sound of an explosion. _"...__Well...what are we going to do with him?...Eh...I don't know. I'll call Giovanni...Why not call Saturn? He's probably more likely to handle it better...You're probably right...Sir, it's Rynade...I'm with him, but we currently have a slight problem. I'll give the phone to him, he can explain...Just call me Kova. We've knocked out a trainer who also has been searching for the charmeleon that the two of us are looking for. I know him to be her previous owner, and personally, I think that he needs to be removed somehow. I had found her, but due to his meddling, she has gotten away again...He's knocked out...Yes. How do you know that?...No. I know what he looks like, but not his name, or that of his companion..." _Aron breathed a sigh of relief, which promptly vanished when...

"_Yes. Wait, I do know his name! It's Aron Silpha...Sir."_

"So...Team Rocket...and Galactic? How come they want Firael again? I mean, she was a successful experiment, but can't they just make more? And Isrea, I think you're going to have to do the checking in from now on." Aron breathed out.

"That's not all. These are two of his pokemon." Morgan showed them the two pokeballs her chatot had found.

"I'll take them to the center and wait for them to get healed there, I guess. I'm already going to pick up Aron and Isrea's pokemon for them." Myu sighed.

"Nah, my pokemon need to go there anyway. They won't take as long, and I'll just let them out with yours while I get these two healed up."

* * *

><p>While Morgan napped in the pokemon centre as Rob's scizor and ninjask were healed, her pokemon were talking with Aron and Isrea's.<p>

"_...It's Aron Silpha...Sir."_ Chatot once again played the words that he had recorded, before a blanket of silence descended upon the group as they tried to process the implications of that information.

Ashen-faced, Firael (Alexa had tactfully allowed her to take control at this moment in time) rubbed her head. "That was my trainer...my original one. To think that he'd followed me this far, for this long...what of his pokemon?"

Sonata cocked his head sideways, trying to fully recall the events of several hours ago. "Hmm...I picked up two pokeballs and I think there was a scizor and a ninjask inside those. I saw him recall a raichu, but it was in his hand, so they took his pokeball with him."

"You didn't see another pokeball?" Firael asked, puzzled despite herself.

"No...why?"

"Nothing...I...I just need to have some time by myself. Yeah."

The other pokemon watched solemnly as the charmeleon trudged off.

* * *

><p>It wasn't the first time Steven wished he could better communicate with Aron, Isrea and the people they travelled with. Upon trying to write something to show Aron he was the Steven that had apparently 'died', he realised that he just...couldn't. Puzzled, he had gone to Firael and asked how she was able to write her name, before she revealed that her trainer had written her name out on a slip of paper and shown it to her, and she had memorised the markings. It was with a slight shock that Steven realised that to them, their names were actually just complex pictures.<p>

While that fustrated Steven to no end, it also brought up another conundrum. Rush had never had a trainer before, so how could he write his name?

* * *

><p>Sonya had begun typing up a thesis document (one of several she was planning upon writing; the more time she spent typing up stuff, the longer she'd be able to stave off having to build the actuall technology) when the man she now knew to be Titan unlocked the door to her lab to leave her some disturbing news.<p>

'_Crap. With Nikolai and his other assisstants around, it's going to be hard for me to work slowly...and they've already found a guiena pig? I hope I don't have to meet him or her. It'll just make everything so much harder...'_

* * *

><p>"Ugh...how long will we be stuck here?" Kova grunted as he slumped onto his bed in the room he and Rynade had booked.<p>

Rynade shrugged. "Dunno. Titan will come as quickly as he wants to. What I want to know is why we aren't chasing the bloody mew I saw around a week or so ago. I mean we're just looking for a charme-"

Kova's eyes, unnoticed by Rynade, shot open. "Wait...you've seen a mew?"'

"Yeah...I was flying to Veilstone and my murkrow went crazy, chasing after something, which turned out to be mew. I reported it and everything, but Saturn doesn't seem to care."

"Hmm...I think I've gotta go for a walk...give me a buzz when that crappy antiques show is finished." Kova vaguely gestured at the TV which was currently running an ad for a fur dye, an azure blue espeon strutting across the screen and pouting at the camera."

* * *

><p>Once downstairs, Kova pulled out his phone.<p>

"Giovanni? I have some news for you."

* * *

><p>After he had finished his phone call with Kova, Giovanni leant back, thinking things over. Then he picked up the phone again and dialed for Saturn.<p>

"Saturn? I believe that a trade might be in order."

* * *

><p>"...mmglsf...a rather nice Szenist sculpture, around 450 years old. It does look like a Dicaperian piece. This could be worth quite a bit, if not only for the small thatching on the bottom here...yes...that might drop the..."<p>

Once Kova had gone downstairs, Rynade slumped onto the other single bed and turned the volume up.

'_I like the antique shows...I reckon this sculpture's worth around two thousand bucks."_

"...In summary...this could be worth around four hundred and fifty dollars, but if you find the right buyer, that could be doubled, even tripled."

'_Damn. I always overprice.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Antiques Roadshow is legit, guys. Lol. It always seems to be on when I can be bothered to turn on the TV, and I just find myself guessing prices. I always guess too high. Little plot hole I fixed at the end, kinda. I had planned it out, but when I was supposed to include a scene for it, I forgot, so this is my patch-up effort. Time skips will start next chapter, although it's only a small one. I wonder if anyone noticed a similarity between Titan's conversation with Saturn in this chapter and the one he had in chapter 27.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>ej92: We all know Google Translate is awesome. And yes, Quoteception.<strong>

**[BLANK/anonymous]: Thanks! I didn't notice the notice myself, but I think you noticed.**

**thewookie1: No one saw it coming. Even I didn't until I had the idea.**

**Cenobia100: One of the greats? Naw. You haven't read Scytherider's 'Silver Resistance' or Buwaro's 'Tales of Flame', have you? Those are greats, but thanks for the compliment nonetheless. **

**[BLANK/anonymous v2]: Damn. You guys must be identical twins. loljks.**

**leygose: That is only possible if your teacher was using Google Translate for elementary spanish. I CALL HAX. (Also, sorry ej92, lol). Also, one month? Aww...damn. I'll just have to wait before posting this.**

**zerones: Thanks! Nobody likes Mary Sues, althought I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate them THAT much.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Dawn, but I guess it wasn't obvious enough. She will make a Cameo appearance though. WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>This skit was longer because it was published around Christmas, but it didn't really work out that well.<strong>

**Steven: I'd wish you guys a Merry Christmas, but a) Firael didn't really have a good time in this chapter and b) It's not even Christmas.**

**Rush: Naw...She should still be jolly and happish.**

**Firael: Don't tempt me, Rush...**

**Alexa: Happish?**

**Vendel: Anyway, it should be Happy Holidays, seeing as that applies to all the holidays that fall on today, and seeing as Boxing day is also a public holiday in most countries, it means I can wish you guys a Happy holidays!**

**Makybe: Except your grammar just shot you in the foot...claw...talon...thing.**

****Alexa: Happish?****

**Rush: Does that mean I can wish Rob a Happy Holiday?**

**Firael: What?**

**Rush: Well, he's not going to be working or training, and he'll be going to new places, so why not?**

**Firael: That's it.**

**Rush: Oh. No...THIS IS VERY BA-**

****Alexa: Happish?****

**Steven: Jeez, Vendel, most people who aren't Christians still wish each other a Merry Christmas. Happy holidays uses so much political correctness it's not funny. Seriously. Only **politicians** speak like that.**

**Makybe: I've always wondered about that. I mean, they always toe the line, and they actually look lost when asked a 'Yes/No' question.**

****Alexa: Happish?****

**Warning: It's because they liek mudkipz.**

**Steven: Wait...what? Where did that come from?**

****Alexa: Happish?****

****Makybe: I don't even like mudkips. They're all so..._wet_, and watery.****

**Warning: It doesn't make sense. **Politicians** don't make sense. Therefore logic.**

**Steven: But...**

****Alexa: Happ-****

****Vendel: ARGH. STOP. WE KNOW HAPPISH IS NOT A WORD. I ACTUALLY WANT TO HIT YOU RIGHT NOW.****

******Steven: Jeez...keep it down. I can barely hear Rush's screams with you yelling so loudly.******

******Alexa: ...really? You would hit me?******

******Vendel: Woah...you believe me?******

******Firael: CLEAR!******

******Alexa: Oh...******

******Firael: I'm back!******

******Steven: Oh yay. Where's Rush?******

******Firael: Last I checked, six feet unde-******

******Makybe: You didn't!******

******Firael: Nah, just joking. I just used a **_defibrillator_** on him. He's...recovering.******

******Warning: Is that how it is.******

******Steven: Where the hell did you get a defibrillator from anyway?******

******Firael: I have connections.******

******Alexa: O rly?******

**Makybe: How did you pronounce that.**

**Alexa: I didn't. It was typed.**

**Makybe: Wha-**


	30. Fishing Line

Over the next week, Aron and Isrea left Eterna city for the long trek to Hearthome city through Mt. Coronet. As they trained along the way by battling against other trainers and wild pokemon (Morgan managed to snap a few action frames of Aron and Isrea's pokemon in battle), Aron and Isrea began to work on expanding their pokemon teams. Aron caught a bidoof and liberated an abused shiny eevee from her trainer, a rather priggish girl named Mary while Isrea was given a celebi egg and caught a raikou-

Okay, I'm just kidding.

I mean, seriously...who catches bidoof?

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: This was going be the beginning of my chapter, but SOPA happened and I realised that lots of other authors would go after me for stealing their ideas, such as the abused shiny eevee and raikou. However, if I find another fic where someone catches a bidoof, imma set my lawyers on them. That's MY idea, and I'm not even going to use it.<strong>

* * *

><p>In two days after their confrontation with Team Rocket, Aron and Isrea realised that they needed to train and (more importantly, doubly so in Aron's case) expand their teams, so before they set out for Hearthome City, a last-minute decision was made between the four to take a detour to the forestry under the Cycling Road, a largely neglected place for training as there were other more accessible places for prospective trainers to access.<p>

While it wasn't specifically mentioned, a second reason behind the choice to spend some time camped out under Route 206 was the knowledge that the area under Route 206 would be the last place the thieves would look for them.

As a result, the four of them all bought a bike and a machete each from Rad Rickshaw's survival shop before re-stocking on camping supplies and heading for the Cycling Road that Rush and Steven had seen just over a week before. After biking down to the south end (the north end was surrounded by sheer cliffs, not allowing any access to the wilderness beneath the road) they got off their bikes and began the arduous process of hacking a path through the bushes. While Aron's (for it was his) desicion to get the machetes turned out to save a large amount of time, it was Vendel, Firael, Rynka, Rob's scizor and his ninjask that did most of the work with their Cut attacks.

* * *

><p>'<em>Uggh...'<em>

Rob woke up. As he did, he realised that his hands were bound behind his back, and that he was strapped in a seat belt, in the back of a car. The man who was driving noticed his struggles almost immediately, and said.

"I have a croagunk. So there are two ways we can spend this trip. Either, you stay silent, and I put some nice radio music on for the both of us, or I can have Croagunk persuade you to stay silent. As a posion/fighting pokemon, I do believe he will have no shortage of ideas as to how this task can be undertaken."

"..."

"Well, which is it to be?"

Rob muttered something under his breath.

"Mmph," the man grunted. "that was the wrong answer, I'm afraid. Croagunk, if you will."

* * *

><p>As she slashed and hacked her way through the thick undergrowth with everyone else (bar Steven and Rush, who were flying around above them and Makybe, Adele and Sonata, who were lounging around behind them). Firael had to ask.<p>

"It's Scythe, isn't it? Your name?" She asked the scizor, who grunted back in reply.

"Can you tell me...you know, what happened after I got...kidnapped from Rob?"

"I don't know much. I joined Rob long after you were taken. Zask has been around for longer. You should ask him. He never bought you up." Scythe pointed a pincer at the ninjask in question, who was furiously slashing at a bush.

"He didn't?" Firael didn't know what to think. "Then how come you believed me so quickly when I said that I used to travel with him?"

The scizor curtly replied. "Rai and Vaiel. But mostly Rai. He told us about you."

* * *

><p>While Lucas had been planning on spending at least a month with his mother, he got a phone call from Aaron (of the Elite Four).<p>

"Hello?"

"Hey Luc, it's Aaron. Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to get you for the past month!"

Lucas blanked out for a moment, having forgotten the extent of time to which he had been away from...civilisation.

'_This is depressing.'_

"I was...training." Lucas' mind scrambled for an answer. "At Diablo's Ocean."

"Diablo's Ocean? If I remember correctly, that's not a safe place to train around, because of that weird interference with navigation equipment. How did you cope with that?"

'_Damn. That was a stupid place to use.' _Lucas' mind raced for a plausible explanation.

"Yeah, about that. It was an accident, and it was lucky that we found an island to rest on while we tried to get out, but there were lots of strong pokemon to train with on the island."

"Ah, that explains things then. But that wasn't why I've been calling."

"It isn't? Ah well, no one ever calls to say 'hi' anymore." Lucas smirked. _'Kind of stating the obvious. Why would he call me for a small chat if he didn't even think I was at home?'_

"Well, if you actually _took_ our calls..."

"Ooh, burn." Lucas smiled. It was the first time he had managed to take his mind off his current situation.

"I try. Still, don't you realise that we've got just over 8 months to go before the Millennium Festival? The Elite Four are meant to start going around to start promoting it, you know. And that means that the Champion's got to be doing stuff as well."

'_Ugh...I'd forgotten about that.' _"Oh, yeah. I remember. Aren't the top coordinators doing something similar as well?" Lucas mentally hit himself. He had previously seen Dawn on television the night before, appearing at the contest that was being held at Sunyshore city, but hadn't thought anything of it.

"Yeah. It's just that things are going to be really hectic leading up to the Millennium Festival. Hey, at least you won't have to do this for another thousand years once this is done, eh?"

"Yeah." Lucas chuckled nervously. _'What if I'm still around?'_

'Well, I'll get someone to call you up later with an itinerary, but if I remember correctly, you have to do some stuff at Snowpoint city...I think you were opening up a building or something. Anyway, see ya."

"Bye."'

Despite Aaron's lightheartedness, Lucas still couldn't put the weight of the current situation out of his mind. It was really one thought, two words, that just sat at the back of his head, ceaselessly nattering away at him.

'_What if...'_

Suddenly, one thousand years didn't seem that long.

* * *

><p>Steven and Rush flopped down on the ground next to where they had been camped, absolutely exhausted. In the three days after leaving Eterna City, they had had to fight countless battles against the significantly more aggressive pokemon that lived under the Cycling Road. While Aron, Morgan and Isrea had noticed this increased aggressiveness, they couldn't figure out why this was the case, until Myu pointed out that the pokemon that lived here had not had as much contact (if any) with humans since the Cycling Road's inception. A few metres away from the two bird pokemon, Firael, Vendel, Makybe did the same.<p>

"Wow, jeez. This place is certainly giving us a run for our money, eh? This is only our second day camped here and I'm dog tired..." Steven said as Aron and Morgan pulled out a can of AeroSoft SupaRepel ('Now 100% asbestos free!') and began to spray the surrounding trees with the repellent.

"Steven, we didn't pay anything to get here." Rush grumbled. Steven started slightly, surprised by the negative reply.

"It's just a saying...you didn't have to jump all over me.", he replied petulantly.

"Ugh, I don't care..." Rush rolled over onto his side and tucking a wing over his head, effectively ending the conversation by shutting Steven out.

'_Somebody's grouchy today. Bleah, at least I figured out how to use double team, even though Myu's explanation of how it worked didn't make any sense to me at all.'_ Steven thought. He had managed to unlock the secret behind double team, even though he didn't actually understand how it worked. Myu explained to him that all double team did was that it allowed a glimpse into a similar alternate reality. She had said that since there were infinitely many universes, there had to be one where everything was identical to this world, except that Steven had maybe been half a metre to the left or so.

All Steven knew that he just had to concentrate on forming a double and one would appear, as long as he could keep an image of himself in his mind. The biggest flaw with double team was that the clones' quality would decrease as you paid less attention to carrying out said move.

Just then, a small rock hit Steven's tail, cutting his musings short.

"Hey! Who was that?", he yelled, hopping over towards Firael and the other two pokemon. However, all three of them had already fallen asleep.

'_Unless one of them was faking...but it can't really be Makybe, and Vendel and Firael looked exhausted anyway.' _

He whirled around, looking for any other potential rock-throwing pokemon, but Morgan's pokemon were on the other side of the clearing they had camped out with Isrea and Myu, and while Scythe and Rob's other pokemon (_'his name was Zask, wasn't it?'_)were nearby, he didn't think that either of them was capable of throwing a small rock with any amount of accuracy.

So who had it been? Steven came to the only logical conclusion.

'_Dammit Myu. You and your psychic powers.'_

If Steven had been listening hard, he would have heard a light snicker.

* * *

><p>Pluto looked up as the door to her cell (she liked to think of it as such) opened. In the doorway stood Captain Sinther.<p>

"Looks like Team Galactic do want you back. Here are a set of plane tickets and 100 dollars for expenses."

Pluto didn't know what to think. She knew that she wanted to blame somebody for her incarceration, but she didn't know who. Whilst, at a more fundamental and less conscious level, a part of her bayed for blood and redemption, she knew that going after Captain Sinther (or for that matter, anyone from Team Rocket) would be pointless, as what they had done was exactly what she would have done in the first place.

And Saturn...

'_Well, he did manage to get me released, right? So does that mean I can forgive him?'_

* * *

><p>Steven woke up, before wishing that he hadn't done so. His wings hurt like hell, and the ridge of bone that trailed among the leading edge of both his wings felt battered and bruised from countless wing attacks against zubat (it didn't help that hitting them in the mouth with a wing attack would only cause them to reflexively chomp down on the offending limb), kricketot and geodude. The geodude were the worst (if you ignored the fang marks).<p>

'Ugh...' he groaned, giving his wings an experimental flap in an attempt to work out the kinks in his muscles. "Why must everything happen to me?"

* * *

><p>"Why must everything happen to me?" The loud yell woke Rush up from an uneasy slumber.<p>

'_Like you can complain.' _He thought, just as Steven saw him open his eyes.

"You pumped for another day of wingbashing? Hell, at the rate we're going, I won't have any wing left to fly with."

The sarcasm intended in that question passed right over the staravia's head as Rush flew off in search for breakfast (as Aron and Isrea had realised that bringing supplies for all their pokemon was stupid and heavy).

Slightly miffed, Steven headed off to find some berries himself.

'_What's gotten into Rush lately? Is it because of his evolution? Does evolving change your personality? It shouldn't though...Firael's pretty much the same, even though she isn't beating Rush up anymore, but that might be because Rush is harder to beat u— but then, Vendel hasn't changed one bit!'_

As he flew off, he could have sworn he heard a yelp back at the camp.

"Ow!"

* * *

><p>Sonya was staring blankly at the television, watching, but not really digesting, the melodramatic soap opera (weren't they all?) that unfolded itself before her. As one of the characters declared his undying love for another character (for the 25th time, to the fourteenth character), the door to her room opened, and a haggard young man, in his late teens was thrown in. Just as the grunts who had thrown him in walked out, one of them tossed a pokeball over his shoulder, before the door shut with a resounding click.<p>

She did the only sensible thing at the moment; she dragged the limp body onto her bed and placed the pokeball (she assumed the pokeball belonged to the teenager) in his hand. She would have opened the pokeball, but she didn't want to pry.

She knew why the teenager was here. _'These Galactic bastards are heartless.'_

* * *

><p>"Ow!" Aron flinched as a small pebble bounced off the back of his head.<p>

"What happened?" Myu had just walked past and saw Aron rubbing his head.

"Something hit me." Aron brightened up and clasped his hands, rubbing them together. "So, who's up for more training?"

Silence.

"They're away getting breakfast, silly."

* * *

><p>Palkia pulled her hood further over her head to shut out the chill from the wind that seemed to sink into her bones. "Jeez, it's cold up here."<p>

Sean chuckled as the two walked from the Landing Bay to the Pokemon Centre in Snowpoint City, where they could get directions to any motels nearby. "Heh. We're in Snowpoint. You know...Snow...point? Name kinda gives it away. Anyway, Celebi would be doing worse if you let him out, what with his weakness to ice and everything."

Palkia could only imagine how badly her friend would have done had she let him out. Axew were not designed for the cold.

"Ah well, he'll probably have to just stay indoors then. You going to challenge immediately?"

Sean sneezed. "Um...no. I'd like to get some last minute training in and get a fifth member for our team. Also, I need to give my pokemon some time out in the cold...but I probably shouldn't just let them out into these conditions.", he vaguely gestured at the sky. "I'll probably set the air-conditioning to a reasonably low temperature, around 8 degrees...that should be about right."

Inwardly, Palkia groaned. She had been looking forwards to escaping the cold weather by walking into a nice heated room.

"Yeah," she agreed rather reluctantly. "That should be about right." Sean sighed in relief.

"Good. I was hoping you'd agree, but I seriously thought you were going to complain about the temperature."

"..."

* * *

><p>As they were about to set out, Morgan called out from across the campsite.<p>

"Hey, do you guys have any thin rope?"

Isrea was the first to answer. "Hmmm...we have some thick ropes as spares for the tent."

"What do you need it for?" Myu cut in.

"Oh, I lost the wrist strap for my camera yesterday, remember?" Morgan grumbled.

Aron laughed. "Lost? We all know where it is. If I remember correctly, it's still with that stunky that tried to make off with your camera."

"So? We don't know where she is now, so technically, it IS lost." Morgan said bashfully.

"Would fishing line do? I know we have some here for some of the later routes...oh wait..." Isrea could be heard rummaging through their tent.

"We do have some. You sure it's in your pack?" Aron joined Isrea in the tent.

Several minutes later, all four of them had given up their fruitless search for the fishing line, which had disappeared. Morgan managed to improvise one by stringing together folded strips of duct tape, and as such they all set off.

A pair of beady eyes watched them.

* * *

><p>"Morgan, watch out!" Morgan looked up from her camera just in time to avoid walking into a tree. Myu sighed.<p>

"You have to look where you're going, Morgan..."

"Sorry," Morgan mumbled, fiddling with some buttons on her camera. "I was just sorting through the pictures that I managed to take today. It's just that when you bracket photographs you end up with a lot of photos you just want to throw away and my camera autobrackets by default. However, it does get you the best shots. I've also done some experimentation with multipl-"

Myu cut her off, not knowing the least about photography. "Bracketing? What's that?"

"Oh," Morgan moved closer to Myu as they followed behind Aron and Isrea, who were looking for a place to rest and have lunch. Morgan bought up a series of photographs of Scout (as he was excuting a wing attack) on the palm-sized screen on her camera. "Now, see how the earlier pictures have everything but the background all blurry, and the last two have the entire picture blurred out?

"Mmm...yes. Why?"

"It's called focus bracketing. Basically, the camera takes several photographs and changes the focus slightly between every shot, and basically, I pick the one I like the most."

"Oh, I see."

"Hey! Over here!" Aron yelled. Myu looked up from Morgan's camera and noticed that the two had walked straight past Aron and Isrea, who had turned right into a small clearing, where all their pokemon were waiting for them.

* * *

><p>Prod.<p>

Prod. Prod.

Prod. Prod. Prod.

"Mmph." Palkia mumbled as she rolled away from the proding.

Prodprodprodprodprodprod-

"Hey! What gives?" Palkia shot up and slapped at whatever had been prodding her. 'Whatever' turned out to be Sean, who wore a grin on his face.

"I'll tell you what gives? Dinner. I'm hungry, and I reckon that you are as well. It's nearly seven, and if we don't go now, we won't be able to find a place that's still open and isn't going to have us forking out gold nuggets for a drink. I was going to let you wake up normally, but I figured you'd be even more annoyed if I went off for dinner on my own."

"Couldn't you just get takeaway?" Palkia said petulantly. Celebi, who had been listening in, turned off the TV (it was showing a curling match) snorted.

"That's no fun. Don't be lazy."

"Lazy? Okay then, how about we all go together, huh?" Now it was Palkia's turn to smile, and even Sean had to supress a chuckle at the axew's horrified expression.

"But that's no fun!" He complained as Palkia lifted him up.

"God, you're heavy!" She complained. "Ah, but you see, that depends on who we ask, doesn't it?"

"Noooo! Guys," Celebi shouted at Sean's pokemon, who were watching the scene unfold before them with looks of amusement on their faces (except for Zaroa, the bronzor didn't have much scope for emotional displays). "SAVE ME!"

Lael laughed, the lucario nodding at Celebi as she walked out of the room first. "But, you see...that's no fun!" She was quickly followed by the rest of Sean's pokemon, before Sean and Palkia walked out of the room with Celebi firmly held in Palkia's arms.

"You guys suck."

* * *

><p>That night, as Aron, Isrea, Myu and Morgan slept, two beady eyes moved around the clearing that they were camped in.<p>

The eyes carefully took in the layout of the camp, especially noting the location of the exit of the main tent, as they seemed to jump over the shaking and muttering form of a staravia, walked carefully around the only source of light in the camp, that of the flames of a charmeleon and ponyta sleeping before inching slowly around the lightly breathing form of a ninetales.

Once the eyes had circumnavigated the camp, they moved over to two trees at the edge of the clearing. The eyes seemed to nod.

If anyone had been listening, they would have heard a short laugh, quickly stifled, as the eyes stole off into the night to retrieve a spool of fishing line.

* * *

><p>Sean stopped in front of an eatery, seemingly deep in thought.<p>

"Hmm...do you think this place is alright?"

"A-axe!" Celebi replied before Palkia could open her mouth.

"No? I guess we'll have to-"

"A-a-axe!" The axew was shivering all over, pulling himself as close to Palkia as he could. Palkia couldn't supress a grin as she wrapped her jacket around the baby dinosaur.

"In case you were wondering, he said yes."

"Yeah, I was just joking. Come on, let's go in."

* * *

><p>Lucas woke to the sound of a phone ringing and his mother calling out to him.<p>

"Lucas? There's a woman on the line for you."

"Kay. Coming in a sec." Lucas darkly muttered a few incomprehensible words as he wearily dragged himself out of bed and down the stairs.

Apprehension. He could sense it coming from his mother. She was worried that he would have to leave immediately.

'_I might have to.'_ He picked up the phone.

"Hello? Lucas speaking."

"Ah. Lucas? I'm Liesel Baravania-Schlutz." A crisp voice which carried undertones of a bureaucrat spoke into Lucas' ear.

"Uh..." Lucas replied, unsure how to reply. _'That is one hell of a hard last name to remember...'_

"I'm basically the person who manages your timetable."

Comprehension dawned. "Oh. Aaron called up about this yesterday. Said you'd call."

"Did he? Good. Well, for this month, you only have two events to attend. Firstly, there is the opening of the new port facility at Snowpoint City in one weeks time."

"Port facility? You mean ticket booth." Lucas interrupted.

"Port facility." The voice firmly replied. "Then, you have a gala concert to attend to at Veilstone City..." Lucas started zoning out as he heard his life being planned out for the next eight months.

'_I never signed up for this...at least it's only for the Millennium festival.'_

* * *

><p>Clunk.<p>

"Ow. He-" Aron shot up, rubbing his head. He was about to complain when he realised everyone else was still asleep.

'_Weird. Well, it's morning, so I guess I should get everyone up. Should I be subtle?'_

"GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!"

"Unnggh...Hey! Where's my camera?" Morgan cried out.

* * *

><p>"Uggh..." Alexa got up. "No! It's my turn today! I'll deal with it if it comes up, ok?"<p>

"What?" Vendel had been sleeping nearby.

"Oh, it's Firael...she's been bugging me a little about Rush." Alexa mumbled.

'_Ah, so Alexa's in control at the moment?' _"About Rush?" Vendel cocked his head sideways slightly, as he waited for a longer response. However, he didn't receive one.

"Nevermind your camera, my hat's gone!" Isrea yelled out.

'_Oh no.'_ Firael remarked sarcastically. _'What will she do?'_

"Hey, Morgan, Isrea? I've, um, found your hat and your camera. "It's just here... but that gligar's just...wearing them." Aron's voice came over from the other side of the camp.

'_Huh? That sounds interesting...' _Alexa thought, walking over as Makybe got up as well.

"C'mon Makybe, let's check this out!" Alexa said to the ponyta.

"Hmmphfztl? What?" Steven had just woken up.

* * *

><p>Aron, Morgan, Isrea and Myu could only stare at the gligar, bewildered by the sight that stood before them. Isrea's hat was perched at a precarious angle between the bat-scorpion's pointed ears with Morgan's camera slung around his(her?) neck, a huge grin plastered on his face. The gligar just stood there, staring at them. He was standing a few metres back from the edge of the camp, directly between two trees.<p>

"Um." Morgan ventured. "Can I have my camera back?"

"Gil!", was the answer, accompanied by a shake of the head.

"Please?"

"Gil!" Another shake of the head.

"Look, I'm getting my hat back, whether you want to give it back or not! It's MY hat!" Isrea said. "Do you want a battle?"

The gligar stuck his tongue out at her.

Isrea exploded. "That's IT! NOBODY STEALS MY HAT! I got that from a Mann-Conomy sale!", she yelled before charging directly at the gligar.

"No, wait!" Aron started after Isrea, but she was too far gone to stop. Just as she was about to reach the gligar, she gave a yell and tried to stop, but slid into whatever she had tried to avoid and bounced backwards, seemingly off an invisible barrier that had mysteriously appeared between the two trees that the gligar stood behind, clawing at her face.

* * *

><p>Alexa didn't know what had just happened, but Isrea didn't look to be hurt, just extremely embarrassed. She heard the sound of raucous laughter which, upon looking, was coming from the gligar, who had collapsed to the ground in a fit of laughter.<p>

"Hahahahhaha...I cain' believe she fell for tha'!"

"Huh?" Alexa said, tentatively approaching the gligar. As she neared the two trees, she saw a few glistening threads of...

"Fishing line? _You_ took the fishing line?" The gligar nodded solemnly in response.

"'Tis I. Hahahahahahahaha!" He tried to keep a straight face, but failed and burst into fits of laughter again. "Wha's better is tha' I took a photo of her! Look!"

Alexa found the camera thrust at her, and quickly, remembering the basic layout of a camera, worked her way to the photographs. However, the only ones that were there seemed to have been taken from the previous day.

"Hmm...I don't think you actually did take a photograph. It's not here."

"Hwat? But I did everything the large woman did! I pressed the small button, twisted tha' knobby thing, and pressed the big button on top!" The gligar responded, pouting slightly.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you did something else? It's annoying not being able to read the words on the camera." Alexa said as she gave the camera back to Morgan.

"Read? Wha's tha'"

"I'll explain late-"

"Hey! That gligar managed to take a video of the whole thing!"

'_Oh dear.' _Alexa thought while Firael burst into fits of laughter inside her head.

"What?" Isrea yelled furiously..

* * *

><p>Giovanni was fuming. He had thought he was getting some valuable information on Mew from Saturn, but it turned out to be nothing new. It was really only an eyewitness account and a pokedex scan, which he really didn't think was going to reveal anything he didn't already know from his scientists' own research while they were working on mewtwo. Sighing, he sipped some Cesnafe coffee as he flipped through the pokedex report, just in case. He noted with a slight amount of interest that Mew had changed his gender to male, but it was as he had feared. Nothing new.<p>

And then, right at the bottom, he saw an entry that should have been empty.

_Owner: Lucas Plato._

Giovanni smiled.

'_Now isn't that something?'_

* * *

><p>It took a little consoling, but eventually Isrea calmed down enough and had even looked at the video that the gligar (he didn't have a name) had inadvertently taken. To the surprise of everyone else, Isrea burst out laughing when she saw herself crash into the wall of fishing line that had been tied between the two trees.<p>

It was Aron who had noticed that the gligar didn't seem to want to leave.

"You don't want to go, do you?" He received a silent nod as a response.

"Well then, do you want to join us?" Aron gestured at Steven and Firael. " We're basically travelling around Sinnoh to do the Gym challenge." Another silent nod.

"Weird, he's suddenly clammed up, hasn't he?" Steven muttered to Alexa.

The gligar glared at him. "Just cause I don' speak all the time doesn' mean tha' I cain' speak!"

Steven blinked. "That's a strong accent." Alexa sighed.

"Have you even been listening to the other pokemon when we've been battling? They all have a similar accent, you know."

"Oh. I was too busy being tired."

"Wotcha expec'ing? Us pokemon round here don' ge' out much, ye know."

"He's got a fair point. Hell, even Rush had a little bit of an accent when he joined us which disappeared pretty quickly, and Makybe was living close to Oreburgh City, and she probably got to speak with other trainers' pokemon."

"Yeah, and hardly anyone comes down here."

"So...what do you think of Gilly as a name, eh?" Aron asked. Steven was impressed; Aron had come up with a decent name on his first try.

"'Eah, 'snot bad."

* * *

><p><strong>Heh...I mixed things up with that beginning, but it was too good an idea to give up. Trust me. Well, I dug myself out of a hole with the Giovanni thing, so I still haven't had to do any retconning (except when I went back and changed a number once, but realised that I had gotten things around the wrong way and changed it back). There was, if I remember correctly, a TF2 reference and a coffee reference. There was also a joke I pulled and adapted from xkcd.<strong>

**Still, I'm annoyed at the pace of the fic. Too slow. Time skip's coming in three chapters I hope, although I only got two-thirds of what I wanted to do this chapter done. Also, I had two weeks of writer's block after my one week holiday, so this chap was pretty much written in 4 days. For the sake of the plot, next chapter is going to focus almost exclusively on Aron's group and Sean's group. They have outstanding accounts.**

**Finally, I tried my hand at writing a genuine accent. In a sense, it doesn't matter if you don't like it too much, because it's going to phase out gradually like all accents do.**

* * *

><p><strong>Pichufan: Yeah!<strong>

**thewookie1: Have you turned into Yoda?**

**leygose: Fixed the 'ew' thing, and glad that someone is liking the spoonerisms.**

**zerones: Yeah, but searching for 'Mary Sue' is just asking for trouble.**

**dsiuserhere: So did I. It was the reason I put it in. Yeah, it was why I changed it from a TF fic to a TF/Reborn fic.**

**ej92: Celebi gender confusion is always a problem. :D Who keeps Zask and Scythe? Logistics, man. Logistics.**

**Cenobia100: Antiques show was on as I was writing it. The weird thing is that I always feel compelled to watch it. It should be boring, but still...**

**Azure Blue Espeon: Told ya I was going to work one in.**

**Potayto: Thanks, although I nearly screwed up with Giovanni this chapter.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: That's the biggest focus when I write this. I have to keep everything connected.**

**cold-rain-of-fire: Yes. Happish.**

**Tanon:...replying to this borders on insanity.**

* * *

><p><strong>Alexa: SOPA. Discuss.<strong>

**Rush: No thanks. I don't like soap.**

**Steven: No thanks. I don't like badly named bills. I mean, Stop Online Piracy Act? That doesn't even sound remotely offical.**

**Rush: Who's Bill?**

**Firael: Oh, please be trolling.**

**Rush: Why?**

**Firael: Because even you can't be that stupid.**

**Alexa: GUYS! SOPA!**

**Gilly: SOPA is SUPA! I'm all for it.**

**Vendel:...surely you cannot be serious.**

**Gilly: I'm dead serious. Think of the fun you can have! All you gotta do is take a photograph, put a little watermark in the bottom right corner, crop the watermark out, post it everywhere, and sue all the websites that you posted the picture to! There isn't even any leniency! They just get forced to shut down, because the fact that they let the photograph onto the website in the first place means that they're at fault!**

**Vendel: But no Youtube. No Wikipedia. No Google Images. **

**Gilly: WHAT? Okay, SOPA sucks. But hey, it means no Facebook. Surely that counts for something.**

**Rush: Did you call me stupid? Was it something I said?**


	31. Them Batteries

**Disclaimer: In Soviet Russia, Fic review YOU. AND YOU HAVE BEEN VERY NAU-**

* * *

><p>It was a wonderful day today.<p>

Not. It hadn't taken long for both Firael and Makybe to ask to be returned back to their pokeballs to escape from the sheeting rain. Rush and Steven had also recalled themselves as it was too tiring to fly and visibility was extremely limited. Regardless of the weather, Rush was now too heavy to perch on Isrea's shoulder while Steven standing on Aron's shoulder would only slow him down.

"We can't stay out here! It's too wet!" Aron shouted as they sought cover.

"Obvious statement is obvious!" Isrea yelled back.

* * *

><p>"<em>All washed up and nowhere to go..." Steven grumbled as he loafed around in his pokeball. He didn't feel quite up to visiting Alexa and Firael (speaking to both of them was very weird; they sometimes tended to answer questions together and tended to complete each other's sentences, which was disconcerting as heck), and while he could have gone and visited Makybe, he decided that maybe it would be better to check up on Rush. He had been acting rather despondently the past few days.<em>

"_Here goes..."_

* * *

><p>"...I guess I need tha' exercise anyway..." Gilly mumbled as he half jogged, half glided beside Morgan as they stumbled through the undergrowth.<p>

"It should rain more! This is rather pleasant, if I may say so myself." Vendel said as he jogged beside Aron. "Do you think they'd," he pointed a flipper at the humans, who were all focused upon a small cave entrance that had appeared in the cliff-face where the northern end of the cycling road ended, "mind if I used rain dance?"

"Don't even think about it." Gilly grumbled.

"But I did think about it! How else would I have-"

"Jus'...ken we jus' focus on ge'ing under cover? Then you can conjure up a monsoon for all I care! Bu' not inside our cover, ya birdbrain! I know whatcha thinkin'."

"...That's not very nice."

* * *

><p>Lucas sighed as he climbed onto Wyvil's back, his skarmory shifting slightly to let him get on easier. Parting with his mother had not been easy. Very little was said, but the tension in the air was so palpable that you could nearly cut it with a knife. Mind you, it'd have to be a really sharp knife, and even then you could only <em>nearly <em>cut it, but that wasn't the point, was it? Well, it _is_ the point, seeing as it's meant to be a metaphor. Stop taking metaphors so literally!

"So we're going to Snowpoint, eh? You pack for the weather?" Wyvil asked, giving her wings an experimental flex.

"Yeah, I bought some clothes...we need to open up some building or another...I dunno." Lucas grunted back.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hello?" Steven shouted out as he emerged into Rush's pokeball.<em>

"_Funny, I don't see him anywhere..."_, he thought as he took to the air in search for the staravia. He didn't think to look inside the stone door he had previously seen in his past few visits because it seemed to have disappeared.

_Steven settled down on a flat mossy boulder. "He's bound to turn up sometime...wraaghh!" _

"_Steven? What're you doing here?"_ _The 'boulder' had turned out to be the same stone door, except now it looked extremely worn and had been covered with moss and lichen as opposed to the clean one that Steven had previously remembered._

"_What? Isn't a body allowed to drop in on you for a chat? It's not like I've had anything else to do." Steven had recovered quickly and had moved off a few metres to the side as Rush climbed out, looking dishevelled and slightly confused._

"_Err...yeah." Rush responded, absentmindedly preening one of his feathers._

"_Come on! What's been up with you lately? You just seem...less like...you. Is it because of the evolution? I mean, when was the last time you got Firael to yell at you?" Rush sharply glanced up._

"_None of your business."_

"_Isn't it? We're all in this together! You can trust us, can't you?"_

"_Can I? I mean, you didn't tell me about the whole 'human' thing, and neither did Firael, until that scientist girl went and spilled the beans to Aron and Isrea, and then you went and had a brainfart. If you hadn't, do you think that you would have told us? Would you?" _

_Steven spluttered. "This isn't about me-"_

"_Oh yeah? How so? You didn't want to tell us, and I don't want to tell-"_

"_That was different! I didn't think you'd believe me! It wasn't because I didn't trust you, or that I thought that you'd ostracise me if I told you, but if some random pokemon walked up to you and said 'ooooh look at me! I was a human but I DIEEEED and now I'm a pokemon!', would you believe them?...Would you? Firael and Alexa were in a similar situation as well! Hell, I wouldn't have believed her if she had told me straight up that 'she' was actually 'them', and that there were two different people/pokemon inside her head. That's just screwed up. It still is..."_

"_I..."_

* * *

><p>"Jeez...I could do with a nice fire right now..." Aron collapsed upon the ground in a heap as they dived into the cave that they had found.<p>

"Hey, this looks like it's a pretty extensive network of caves..." Myu's voice could be heard echoing off the walls as she walked a few metres down the cave. Meanwhile, Aron and Isrea pulled out their pokeballs.

"There's enough space for everybody now...Time to get out, guys!"

* * *

><p><em>Steven and Rush both felt the familar tug that signified them being sent out.<em>

"_Oh, you have got to be kidding me. He was about to tell-"_

* * *

><p>"Jeez, Scout and Rush don't look too happy, do they?" Isrea remarked as they set up camp in the entrance to the camp.<p>

"Guys, we really have to check this place out! It's huge!" Myu came back, pointing a thumb over her back at the darkness behind her.

"Yeah, why not? We'll finish setting up, and then we'll get Firael and Makybe to provide us with some light and have a look around this place." Aron replied, not noticing as Gilly looked into his bag, pulling out the ream of fishing line, as he was laying out the sleeping bags.

_'Yes...head into the big, dark, scary cave. Eh, what could possibly go wrong?' _Vendel thought traitorously, having hoped that he would have been able to spend more time outside.

* * *

><p>A panicked shout startled Sonya and made her spill her cup of coffee.<p>

"_This place is huge!" _Alexa said as Firael walked along the labyrinth of cave passageways with everyone else, illuminating the way with her tail.

"_I love being the portable candlestick. At least Makybe's hair is helping me out here so I don't have to flare. That gets really tiring after a while."_

"_Is hair even the right word?" _Alexa interjected.

"_Shaddap." _Firael snapped back.

A zubat appeared.

"_Oh look, it's a zubat." _Alexa deadpanned.

"_Again."_

"Oh look! It's a zubat!" Steven said. Inside her head, Alexa blanched.

"_Can you hit him, please?"_ Alexa pleaded.

"_My pleasure."_

* * *

><p>Celebi was still surly upon finding out that even in the hotel rooms they were staying in, the air conditioning had been set to a much colder temperature than he thought reasonable. He was swathed in Palkia's blankets on her bed, watching sulkily as Sean's pokemon lounged around the room, a few of them watching the television. It was the DuperBowl final of the hotly contested NFL (National Fishing League), where teams of trainers had to work with their pokemon to round up a school of finneon and lumineon in a set amount of time. Hearthome United were currently just behind 9-10 just around half time to Sunyshore FC, who had been the favourites, but one of the trainers had pulled a <em>proterior cantankerous moniferious nininyous ligament<em> and had to be subbed off.

"Well, let's go out for some training. We're not being very useful watching the NFL. It's not like the DuperBowl is a major competition compared to the SuperBowl anyway, and that guy getting his..._poten cantenmonky nino ligamen_t injured was a huge blow to Sunyshore FC." Sean got up with a stretch.

"Well, I guess I could use the exerc-" Palkia had also gotten up when Celebi cut her off.

"That's cool, but I'm staying _here_."

Sean shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They left. (because what else were they going to do?)

Soon after they left, a certain axew grinned. "Now I can have the air conditioning back up to a normal temperature again!" He jumped off the bed and walked over to the remote, before realising something.

Someone had taken the batteries.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Scout! One more wing attack should do the trick!" Aron yelled as the shadowy visages of Steven and what seemed to be a gible flitted around in the light of Firael's flickering flame.<p>

"Fie! Finally finished..." Firael faltered.

"For fifty five fantastically fun femtoseconds, Firael fully fancied fighting, for Firael finds flamboyant fighting fun-"

"Fiery filly! False! Firael finds flashy fighting fulfilling! Fun fighting? Fail..."

"Fail? Firebreathing fibber! Fit for food! Flagellate Firael, for Firael falsely floccinaucinihilipilificated fulfilling fighting!"

"Forsooth! Wha' were you guys talking abou' anyway? Youse were using all those funny words..." Gilly butted in on Firael and Makybe's conversation, and was promptly ignored.

"Yeah, and I'd much rather be fighting than watch these two duke it out, or at least try to. They can barely see each other!" As Firael finished, Steven managed to land one last wing attack, knocking the gible to the ground, where he struggled to get back up. Seeing that the gible was no longer in a position to fight back, everyone approached him.

"Oh, so it was a gible. I wasn't too sure." Aron said as he pulled his pokedex out.

Morgan frowned as she looked over his shoulder. "Hey, but isn't that gible's underside yellow? It's orange in the picture given in the pokedex..."

Firael's attention was diverted when she heard groaning. "Ugh...not this thing again...can people just get over the fact I'm shiny? I swear...if another pokemon or human mentions the whole 'shiny' thing again, I'm going to...I'm going to..." the gible grumbled, shaking his head.

"Do nothing?" Rush helpfully (actually, that was a matter of opinion) supplied.

"Woah! I'm going to catch it then!" Isrea said eagerly, pulling a pokeball out of his bag.

"Ye-... No! I'll...do...something. Why the hell are they all so obsessed over this anyway? None of the other gibles like me because I'm uglier...they say the yellow looks unhealthy..." The gible began to stomp away, leaving an air of melancholy behind him, Steven and the others following behind, if only because the gible was interesting. Behind them came the sound of raised voices.

"Jeez...he's worse than you sometimes, Vendel." Steven remarked.

"What? I'm not like that...am I?"

"Nah, just kidding..."

* * *

><p>Several kilometres out from Snowpoint, Palkia, Sean and his pokemon stopped for lunch. As he sat down, Sean grunted and pulled out some batteries from his back pocket.<p>

"Oh...I forgot to put those back in the remote for the air conditioning...I took them out just in case anyone tried to mess around with the temperature..."

* * *

><p>"WHY ARE THERE NO BATTERIES IN THIS HOTEL ROOM?"<p>

* * *

><p>After hurriedly wiping up the spilt coffee, Sonya ran into her bedroom to find the teenager, eyes wide open and filled with panic.<p>

"Where am I? Last I remember I was at-"

Sonya placed her hands on his shoulder. "Shhh...look, I can tell you everything, but you're not going to like it, and after this, you're probably going to hate me for the rest of your time here..."

"- Eterna city fight- what? Who are you, anyway?"

'_How the hell am I supposed to tell him?'_ "I...err...I'm Sonya Tanem, and I used to work with Team Rocket." _'Did I say 'with'? Damn! I meant to say 'for'!'_

Bad start.

"Team Rocket? You work with that bunch of...of..."

"No! I resigned from them after my last experiment, because they were too barbaric, but they didn't really accept my resignation, I guess. I'm as trapped here as you are."

"...Experiment? What were you doing?"

"It's hard to explain..."

"The experiment...what pokemon did you conduct it on?"

"What...pokemo-"

"TELL ME!" He grabbed her by her shirt.

"A...charmander, if I recall correctly."

Three seconds of silence. Dead silence.

Then there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

* * *

><p>"Isrea! Don't!" Aron yelled, placing his hand over Isrea's.<p>

"Why? Aron, can't you see, it's a _shiny_! Those are so rare!" Isrea stared off into the distance as she drew her arm back...

"So what? Is that gible an object to you?" Aron shouted back, before imitating Isrea's voice. "Ooh! It's SHINY! Me want now!" Obviously, this infuriated Isrea.

"Wha-"

"Don't you see what you're doing? He obviously doesn't want to leave the cave, or he wouldn't have tried to run. Anyway, it was _my _battle, so he would have been _my _pokemon to catch, and I most definitely don't want him."

"You can't decide whether-" Isrea drew her other arm back to throw the pokeball, and Aron dived out and grabbed that arm as well. Isrea glared at Aron. "Let _go_"

If looks could kill, Aron would...well, Isrea actually couldn't glare at all, so Aron would have been in pretty good shape.

"No." They stood there, arms locked, as they listened to the sounds of pokemon talking echo down the cave passageway.

There was silence, broken only by the calling out of the gible that Isrea so desperately wanted. Eventually, Isrea sighed.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Looks like our pokemon have come back as well."

* * *

><p>Steven and some of the other pokemon had, while talking to him, followed the gible down the pathway.<p>

"So don't you want to come with us? I mean, if nobody likes you here, why don't you leave?" Vendel asked. The gible threw his stubby paws up in the air in frustration.

"Because I still like it here. I'm living all alone here, but I've got a home, and it's _my _home. You know what? I like it like that. I don't have to worry about anybody else, and I don't want to." Even Firael took an unconscious step back as the gible raised his voice. "You guys just stumbled across me while I was gathering food, geddit? I don't want your help, and I don't need it! So leave me alone!"

"Seesh...no need to be so touchy..." Gilly whistled.

"Come on guys, let's head back...we've gone round the corne- Rush? Hello?" Steven started, before waving a wing in front of the Staravia's head.

"He's off with the faries again...I'll grab him. Let's go." Makybe huffily said.

They arrived back just in time to hear Isrea finish what seemed to have been a heated argument.

"...suppose you're right. Looks like our pokemon have come back as well."

A new voice then sounded out, startling all of the pokemon.

"Well, aren't you an interesting bunch."

"I'm sorry? I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to take offense to that!" Makybe whinnied.

* * *

><p>There was much rage at Snowpoint.<p>

"I MEAN, HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO LEAVE BEHIND A SPARE SET OF BATTERIES?"

* * *

><p>"A sandshrew? I thought those were only native to Hoenn?" Morgan said.<p>

"You're kidding, right? Sandshrew can be found in all the regions in Asjen. I don't think you'll be able to find them in the other two continents though...Chicheblen and Aminca both don't have sandshrew, if I recall correctly" Myu said, furrowing her brow. Upon realising that everyone was staring at her, she started slightly. "What?"

"If you recall correctly? You've been to both Chicheblen and Aminca?" Isrea asked.

'_Crap! Think fast...'_ "Uh...well, I've been to Unova in Aminca, and I went to Orre in Chicheblen when I was young...er" _'Well, it's partially true...' _Myu responded.

"Orre? Why would you go there? I understand Unova's a big tourist destination, but Orre?" Morgan asked.

"Hey! I don't know...I think my parents went there on safari...yeah..."

"Oookaaay..." Morgan said.

"Sand." The sandshrew cleared her throat.

"Oh yeah...sorry sandshrew..." Aron knelt down so that he could look straight into her eyes. "I'm not sure why you've walked straight into our group, but if you'd like to come with us, that'd be pretty cool. The two of us are trying to do the Gym challenge, you know...so whaddya say?"

"Sand." A nod.

"Well, great! What about a name? Do you have one?"

"Shrew." This time, a shake of the head.

"Well...how about Sasha?"

"Sand." A nod.

"You...you actually thought of a decent name first up? How can this be?" Isrea gasped in mock horror. Scout snickered.

As they decided to keep exploring the cave, Aron held Isrea back until Myu and Morgan were out of earshot. "Isrea, remember our Geography lessons?"

"Yes..."

"Orre has no wild pokemon. Not until they started releasing some in the past year."

"Wait...so that means that her parents couldn't have gone on safari there, could they?"

* * *

><p>"HOW MUCH WOULD TWO EXTRA BATTERIES COST, ANYWAY?"<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>You? You were the <em>_—er who stole my pokemon?"_ It had been half an hour since she had told him, and he was still slowly demolishing the bedroom. She had run into the bathroom as soon as she could and locked the door behind her. Part of her knew that she would have to confront him sooner or later, but she felt like later was currently the better option.

But still...

The _hurt_ in his eyes...the anguish...all that in that first pained...wail? Howl? Sonya wasn't sure how to describe it, but that first sentence still rang in her head, clashing with the sound of broken glass and smashed wood.

Eventually the sounds stopped.

Nearly. She could hear sobs.

Slowly, she inched the door open...

* * *

><p>"Hey...um...Sasha." Vendel nudged the sandshrew as they walked. By then, Aron and Isrea had gotten sick of exploring the cave and fighting the local zubat army (size: infinite) and were heading back to the surface in the hope that the rain had slackened off.<p>

"Yes?" None of the group had heard her speak much. She spoke with a deep and measured tone of voice, when she spoke at all.

"I...don't want to offend...but I was ...was just wondering why...you wanted to join us. You know..." Vendel trailed off, uncertain.

Aware that everyone else — bar Rush; he still seemed to be in a world of his own — was intently listening (although Steven and Firael were pretending they weren't), Sasha sighed. "I'm ten years old-"

"Wha' the-" she heard the gliscor (_'Gilly, wasn't it?'_) mutter under his breath. Shaking herself, she plowed on. "I'm ten years old, and I have neither evolved nor left this cave. It was really only when I watched that gible leave that I realised that there was more to life than just languishing away in here."

"What...err...I mean..." Vendel started.

"What was it he said that tipped me off?" Sasha queried. Vendel nodded. "It was just before he left. Where he said that he didn't want your help and that he didn't need it. You see, I used to be like that. So fiercely independent. So sure of myself. What was I doing? I was living. Why? No reason. What did I do? Nothing. I had no _purpose_. I needed to give myself something, and it was then...that very moment when I realised that something had been missing. I need something new. Is that enough for you?"

* * *

><p>'<em>That gible...and now Sasha. She's right, you know...the sandshrew. You can't just keep this from them forever. You've got to tell them one day.'<em>

* * *

><p>Rayquaza was bored. He was used to spending time on his own, but he wanted to be high up. He uncoiled himself slightly, looking up from the plateau he was currently resting on, and wistfully looked at the peaks of the Coronet mountain range.<p>

'_Just like Sky Pillar...so close to the sky...'_'

Ten minutes later, Route 210 was once again enshrouded in fog.

* * *

><p>"We're back!" Palkia shouted as she and Sean burst in, Sean's pokemon close behind.<p>

...

"Celebi?" Palkia ventured, after a few seconds.

A muffled voice sounded from the doorway "Did she just say cele-"

"Shh!" Lael quickly shushed him up.

"Celebi?" Now slightly worried, Palkia went into the bedroom, where she was met by a peculiar sight:a huge mound of blankets and duvets had been piled, one on top of another, under which huddled...

"Celebi?"

Nope.

"Palkia, I've found him!" Sean's voice came from the bathroom. Palka quickly crossed over and looked inside, where she found an axew blissfully lying in a steaming bath, oblivious to the world.

"Should we wake him up?" Sean asked.

Palkia smiled. "Nah. Let him be. It's been a while since I've seen him so happy. We can introduce Grover to him later."

Sean walked out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his shirt. "Hey, isn't the Snowpoint ferry centre opening next week? I hear that Lucas is opening it up."

"Yeah...be a good chance to catch up with him."

_'Hmm...I wonder if there's any ice in this apartment. I wonder what Celebi would do if I threw some in his bath.'_ Lael thought, but in the end, decided to leave him be.

* * *

><p>'—<em>ing hell...— — — —ity —! She stole Firael and —ing EXPERIMENTED on her? Firael...I'm so sorry...I tried my best...I really did. <em>—!<em>'_

"H-hey." Rob's head snapped up, red-rimmed eyes vehemently glaring at her. If looks could kill, Sonya would have been deader than a dead dodo in dead land after the revolution. Mainly because dead dodos were already to begin with (and extinct to boot), but that's beside the point. (Again)

'_What does she want now?'_

"I haven't finished yet. I want to say that I didn't steal your charmander, but I did experiment on her. I..." she faltered.

"I don't want your _—_ing sob story! Leave me alone!"

"Just listen!" Her sudden change in tone made Rob stop his internal musings for the moment. "I was wrong, and I shouldn't have worked on her! Her and that girl..."

'_That girl? What girl?'_

"...but after it finished...I resigned and left for Unova, and tried to work on a way to fix what I'd done, and I did...I think. I did what I could. I didn't want anything more to do with Team Rocket."

That piqued Rob's interest; the scientist wasn't the soulless bastard he'd envisioned her to be. "Then what?"

"Then I get kidnapped by Team Galactic, who want me to continue my work. O-on you."

"And...what was your work?" Rob asked edgily.

She told him.

There was more weeping and gnashing of teeth.

* * *

><p>Over the next week, Sean continued training his pokemon to better whistand the cold and also to strengthen Grover, a meditite that had been caught just outside the nearby lake. Eventually, Celebi started to acclimatise to the environment (if only because he kept on finding ice cubes in his baths), so much so that he actually went out with Sean and Palkia when they left the city (although he claimed that it was only because he had nothing else to do, other than watching the NFL...and you can only watch so much fishing before one becomes ofFISHally bored. Ha).<p>

Lucas sighed as he limply prodded at some strips of bacon. He had not been looking foward to his next few months of promoting the millennium festival, and viewed the day set out before him as a rather laborious chore.

* * *

><p>Liesel Baravania-Schlutz, or Demongirl, as Lucas knew her, strode over and slid a sheet of paper (still warm from the printer, as Lucas could still smell the ink) under his plate, before she officiously started outlining the day for him. Lucas could tell that she enjoyed her job, and saw it as an opportunity to make sure that the world ran on time.<p>

"...and finally, I've booked you into Sotachi's Utakyi Restaurant near the new port facility to have dinner with the mayor, gym leader and the head of the port for this city. It's scheduled to begin at 7:30, but of course it pays to be early, so the car will get you there at 7:10."

'_Of course...'_ Lucas nearly rolled his eyes. _'So darn efficient.' _"So, how much time do I have to myself?"

Demongirl looked taken aback. "Time...to, yourself?"

"Yes. You know, to explore the city?"

Liesel stood up huffily. Before walking off, she said something which made Lucas doubt that he'd have very much time to check the city out today.

"I don't see why you can't do that tomorrow."

* * *

><p>"Captain Sinther."<p>

"Sir."

"I have received intelligence of Mew's whereabouts."

"Sir?"

"I believe that Mew is in the possession of the Sinnoh league champion, Lucas-"

"Wha- sorry sir."

"Don't let it happen again. I want you to track Lucas down, which shouldn't be hard, and verify that my intelligence is correct. It would be foolish to prematurely attack the Sinnoh league champion.

"Very foolish, sir."

* * *

><p>Rob and Sonya didn't speak much. There was no reason to. After several days of internal fuming, Rob seemed to relax somewhat once he found out that Sonya was on his side (even though the opposite also applied) and was trying to stall for time. However, Sonya knew that Rob hadn't forgiven her for what she had done to Firael and their dealings were awkward, to say the least.<p>

She knew that it would probably never happen. He would never forgive her.

"You don't have to do it, you know." The words startled Sonya, who had been making a cup of coffee, Rob's raichu watching her as she poured some milk in.

"Do what?"

"This. All this."

"You know I have to, or they'll..."

"They'll what?"

"I don't know? Kill me?"

"And?"

"I- what?"

"And? So what if they kill you? By your death, you save both my life and that of Rai's, and deny Team Rocket and Team Galactic the chance to put more people and pokemon in my position."

"But..."

"Am I not wrong?"

"N-No..."

"So?"

"I...look. I'm trying to help you, I really am, but if you think I'm just going to kill myself, then you're delusional! Don't be so selfish?"

"Look at the pot call the kettle black! Be it so, but really, how many lives are you ruining by staying alive?"

"Don't you understand? I'm already trying to help you, but I can't die!"

"But if you don't, then this is really just a slow death. Tell me: which would you prefer?"

"..."

* * *

><p>We'd been training in the northern part of Mount Coronet after leaving the forested path under the cycling road (more like one of those American Superhighways I saw in Manhattan before...nevermind), trying to make our way to Celestic Town.<p>

Now, note that I had said that we were training in Mount Coronet. Do you know what that means?

Zubats. Zubats should be a swear word, you know. They really should.

Lots and lots of zubats. It's no wonder nobody likes them! I mean, they're everywhere! They don't even have a nose or eyes. Creepy.

So yeah, I was beating down on another zubat when suddenly, I felt...supercharged, like my muscles had been injected with electricity (actually, that would hurt. A lot). One wing attack later, which hit a lot harder than I'd expected, the zubat fell to the ground defeated, and I landed on the ground, unsure of this weird 'Energizer Bunny' state I was in (Duracells suck. I remember a time when Shana's robot broke down because it had duracell batteries in it, and she kept on asking for the bunny batteries).

Back on topic...So, I moved aside to let someone else have their turn at beating another pokemon (so, a zubat), and as I did so, I felt like I was gonna explode. Not actually explode, but like something within me was bursting to come out.

So, you know what? I did.

* * *

><p><strong>zerones: Alive? More like barely breathing. My updates are so slow nowadays. Ugh. Still, you're only allowed one review per chapter.<strong>

**Pichufan: YES. FACEBOOK MUST BURN.**

**Ryu Dragonclaw: Giovanni wants to do a Mewtwo on Lucas, whatever that is. O.o**

**anon: Nope. It's just waiting in the background...ready to STRIKE!**

**leygose: Thanks for the suggestion. Also, no, I don't do photography, but I have heard of something similar. :D I like my references.**

**thewookie1: Bidoof is a boss. You hear me? If Chuck Norris were a bidoof, that bidoof would be level 1. Such is the awesomeness of bidoof.**

**Tsaukpaetra: NINE years of writer's block? I feel for you, man...**

**ej92: All fixed. Also, next chapter. Next chapter. One does not simply walk into Mordor.**

**azure blue espeon: What next? Ditto chewing gum? One must wait and see.**

**Cenobia100: I've spent my entire life spelling gligar as gilgar, you know. MY INNOCENCE!**

**Cyberfire22: Thanks man. Hope things work out for you.**

* * *

><p><strong>Makybe: How does one use this thing?<strong>

**Steven: It's a keyboard. Press buttons.**

**Makybe: But that's the problem! I press buttons, not button!**

**Vendel: Yes, well, that is a problem.**

**Gilly: I know a doctor!**

**Steven:...for not being able to use a keyboard?**

**Gilly: Yeah! She's a chiroprac'er!**

**Vendel: What?**

**Firael: He means 'Chiropractitioner'.**

**Rush: No, he meant 'Chiropractor'!**

**Firael: You're kidding, right? They're called chiropractitioners!**

**Rush: Nope. Practor.**

**Firael: Practitioner! It's even a word? 'Practor' just sounds like someone trying and failing to say 'tractor'!**

**Tanon: Umad? No Makybe! Don't walk on the ;askjgm;vesaorkjngrssam;;jgsbgio9p0w94v3uwm5oyuhs;iaowv3w9pe0m[9ypbo5jm4eoth;srbzzzzzzzzzzzzzqt.**


	32. Fragmentation

**EDIT: Oblivia has been changed to Almia. Not a major change, but I'd like to make all edits known.**

**I reckon that this chapter is going to be the hardest one in the entire fic I've written (including the ones that haven't yet been written). Mainly, it's because the plot's been stagnating, and this chapter is going to do a lot of rushing, but because of the stagnation, I've found it hard to start pushing again. However, after this chapter, we'll be in the last few chapters, heading for the finale. Basically, the next chapter will be the beginning of the end. Hopefully.**

**Seeing Rush going full angst. Hope I didn't screw that scene up too badly. I'm not confident at writing overly emotional scenes...**

**Disclaimer: The end is estimated to be 5 chapters long. This number might increase to 10. No guarantees. The end might even only be 3 chapters long. That's right, a serious disclaimer. WHATCHA GONNA DO?**

* * *

><p>'<em>How can she be so <em>_—ing selfish?'_ Rob thought as he silently fumed away after their latest argument (Sonya was in the lab, working on the very thing that was to condemn him and Rai). _'Can't she see that while she lives, she dooms both the lives of me, Rai, and possibly countless others, but, if she sacrifices herself, then while Rai and I might not make it out of this intact (or rather...un-intact), at least nobody else will get dragged into this mess. Also, she needs to pay for what she did to Firael...'_

* * *

><p>'<em>The nerve...I've already given Firael a solution to her problem, and I'm trying to help this fellow here, but obviously I haven't done enough and I need to go crucify myself so that this guy and his raichu get merged a little later? I don't doubt that Nikolai will be able to continue on from my work, unfortunately...so I'm really doing him a service.' <em>Sonya traitorously thought as she entered some test data into the draft program they were preparing for...their subject.

"Problem, Sonya?" Nikolai had sneaked up behind her.

Doing her best not to look too surprised, Sonya curtly shook her head; she wanted as little contact between her and Nikolai (and, by extension, his assistants) so that her charade could continue for as long as possible.

"Are you sure? You do not seem happy."

"Yes. I am fine, Nikolai."

A hand on her shoulder. "I am happy to hear that, Sonya...just remember, if there is anything you need, _anything_, I'll be glad to help you."

Sonya sighed. "Yes, Nikolai."

"Anything."

"Goodbye, Nikolai. Some of us have work to do."

* * *

><p>When I did, I just felt this sudden relief, as though I had been holding something within myself and that it had just been building up (kinda of like when you've just played a football match and don't realise how tired you are until you sink into a hot bath...yeah...I miss those so much...my feathers just get soggy and it's no fun any more). The edges of my vision began fading out to a clear white, and everyone seemed to slow down...<p>

I could actually hear Aron slow to a stop halfway through a surprised shout. "Hey loook...Scooouuuuttt...

Before...

* * *

><p><em><strong>EXPLODING POTATOES<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>White. I realised that I was lying on the floor (upon which I realised that there WAS a floor, but it was the same clear white as everything else) and promptly got up-<em>

_Hands._

_I have hands._

_I'm...I'm a boy again?_

"_Yes. Just for today, dear. Do you know why?" I look up._

_It was my mother. She looked just as I had last seen her, wearing the same clothes as she had been wearing on my last day on Earth..._

_However, she was slightly fuzzy around the edges; The logo emblazoned on her magenta cardigan was still the gold colour that I remembered it to be, but it was just a golden shapeless blob on her left breast, instead of..._

_What was the logo? I...I couldn't remember. Upon closer inspection, I realised that her watch face was completely devoid of hands, her shoes seemed to be made out of some putty, as though they had lost their definition, and her earrings were flickering; they were there one moment, and gone the nex-_

"_Stephen?" My mother said softly. I didn't care if she was real or not. Not anymore._

"_Mum?"_

"_Do you know what today is?"_

"_...No..."_

"_Son, it's your birthday!" Now my father was here._

"_It...it is?" Was it?_

"_Look at what we got you! We went shopping specially for these, you know. We thought that they might have been too big for you, but fortunately, it looks like we were mistaken!" My mother gushed._

_My father handed me a plastic bag. Inside were a set of new clothes._

_Black, red and blue._

"_Th-thanks."_

"_Look at him...he's all grown up now..."_

"_And to think that he..._

"_...used..."_

"_...to be..."_

* * *

><p>"We are late, Lucas." Demongirl said after a cursory glance at the car's clock, to which Lucas explosively sighed. His de facto 'life organiser' was beginning to greatly ignore him. "Late is bad. Almost as bad as turning up on time."<p>

"What? No we're not! The dinner starts in seventeen minutes! Hell, no one else is here yet!"

"We are three minutes late. My plan was to arrive at 7:10. Luca-"

Lucas stared at her incredulously. _'So us being less than 15 minutes early constitutes as being late?'_

"You have got to be kid-"

"Lucas."

"-ding me- What?" Lucas was getting fustrated by her deadpan expression.

"This trip was a 15 minute trip. We were three minutes late. That's only 80% efficiency."

"It's 120 seconds? Just relax!"

"180, you mean. Also, 80% efficiency is nothing to relax about. It is extremely disappointing."

Lucas then realised something...Liesel wasn't hiding her thoughts particularly well, and while he hadn't meant to pry, it was a good piece of information to know.

"Okay, you can come clean now, Liesel."

"Pardon?"

"I know you set the clock forward 5 minutes just to make sure we would be here on time. Well, 15 minutes early." Liesel now reciprocated the look Lucas had given her earlier.

"You..how did you know?"

Lucas tapped the side of his head. "Magic."

* * *

><p>When I woke up, I felt...different. It was just that...there seemed to be <em>more<em> of me, but I didn't feel heavier. I unsteadily got to my feet, shaking my head to clear up...whatever that had been.

Meanwhile, the world had unpaused itself.

"...evolved!" Aron finished.

'_Huh?' _I realised that I was considerably taller than I previously had been, and looking down at my chest, I noticed that there was an extra strip of black that cut through the red on my upper chest in a 'V' shape, which looked (if I may say so myself) pretty god damn _boss_.

Also, my tail feathers felt different, and it turned out that my twin-pronged tail had lengthened and straightened, with red tips on the end of each prong as well.

So...I'm a swellow, now, huh.

I _like_ this.

* * *

><p>The day after Steven's evolution, Morgan parted ways with Aron and Isrea.<p>

Giving them both a hug, she had said "Well, it's been great travelling with you guys...and I've got blackmail material of Isrea running into an invisible wall as well!"

"...shaddup."

"I reckon we'll meet up again, eh? I'm probably going to detour back through floaroma town again and get some shots of the meadows there before heading for Veilstone, eh? What about you guys?"

Aron scratched his head. "Hmm...we're probably going to go for the Hearthome and Pastoria first, because then we can kinda take Veilstone as a bit of a break, seeing as we'll both have a flying type advantage over Maylene's pokemon. I guess we'll see you there if we end up going there at the same time, huh? Also, you can keep the scizor and ninjask we found. We never got the chance to sort it out and you've been carrying them anyway, so you probably have the biggest claim to them...until we find that guy again."

"Yeah. Well, be seeing you! You have my number, right?"

"Yeah...see ya!"

* * *

><p>Lucas had finally managed to get Liesel off his back after nearly a week of campaigning (there were several trials he had to attend, for the region-wide sporting competition that was held at the same time as the Millenium Festival), one which had completely and utterly drained him of any desire to move into the public speaking market.<p>

'_God...all those speeches.'_'

However, that didn't matter at the moment, because Lucas finally had some time to himself, upon which he promptly walked into the bathroom with his pokemon, transformed quickly and teleported in the general direction of Lake Acuity, taking care to do so at a height of several metres above the ground so that he'd materialise among the forest canopy and remain unseen before he transformed back.

* * *

><p>In the week after leaving Cycling road, things had been pretty uneventful for Aron and Isrea as they headed into Mount Coronet (and another endless wall of zubats).<p>

That was, until they reached a large boulder that blocked their path.

"Hmm...large boulder...let's go this way then." Isrea muttered.

However, five minutes later:

"Another boulder. This is going to be troublesome."

* * *

><p>Sean was 'grinding', or, as he explained it to Palkia, training one pokemon for extended periods of time to ensure that he or she would be at a or above the skill levels of the rest of his team.<p>

Said pokemon, Grover, had been dutifully Brick-Braking everything in sight (including Celebi's head at one point, when Celebi had slipped while climbing up a hill and had careened into a battle). Notwithstanding that one incident between him and the axew, the two had gotten along quite nicely, and while Grover took a break from fighting (Sean was a 'pretty relaxed', or as Palkia explained to him, lazy, trainer), everyone just lounged around in a small patch that was devoid of any snow (courtesy of several aura spheres from Lael).

That was until they heard something.

"Gragh! What the- hnffff!"

Lucas was not happy. He had managed to teleport into one of those infernal Criman trees, which were covered from top to toe in rows and rows of thorns, all of which were tipped with an acid, which made sure that you knew when you had been stung, hence their name.

His first reaction:

'_Ow.' _"Gragh!"

His second reaction:

'_Gotta get out of here!', _before psychically pushing all the branches away.

His third reaction:

'_Maybe I should have pushed myself away.' _"What the-" He fell, not having enough time to catch himself-

Before landing face-first in a snowdrift.

'_Damn it. I still need to spend more time as a mew, it seems. Also, I have snow in my mouth. This stuff is overrated.'_

* * *

><p>"So basically, you're saying that getting through Mount Coronet is impossible without a pokemon that knows strength because..." Isrea asked curtly, arms folded tight with a scowl on her face.<p>

"Because the caves in Mount Coronet are too unstable, and they often collapse. Usually they get cleared up after a fortnight or so when a trainer decides to go through here, but they generally work from east to west, so you can't hitch a lift off them." the hiker to whom they were speaking to shrugged. "I'm just doing a bit of light exercise and training with my hariyama," he pointed at his hariyama, who was currently lounging against the latest pile of rubble Aron and Isrea found themselves faced with, "but I've lived here for a while and you're better off going via Orebrugh. Caves are much more reliable there."

"GAAAHHH!" Aron yelled in fustration. Suddenly, Myu started, and a few seconds pulled out a phone-

'_Myu had a phone?' _Isrea thought.

Aron hadn't noticed Myu talking on her phone. "You'd think they'd have some sort of warning, but nope, they'd rather just let us find out by ourselves!"

"...really? Oh no. I'll be there immediately." When she hung up, Myu's entire demeanour had changed to one of despair.

"Guys...I've got to go. My dad...he's..."

Aron understood immediately. "No that's fine. We'll head out with you and see you on your way then." As an afterthought, he added, "I didn't know you had a phone."

"Well, it's only for emergencies like this. Still, you don't have to help me out. We're not that far from the exit...I have to go!" With that, she ran off.

"Does your friend do that often?" The hiker asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Err...no. She just kinda joined us...err...for some reason or another...but she helped pay for food and stuff, so we never complained, and she's kinda cool." Aron nonchalantly said.

"I guess we're due for Orebrugh then?" Isrea sighed.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>Upon hearing the heavy breathing of some people and pokemon attempting to run in the powdery snow, Lucas quickly transformed into his human form and extricated himself from the snowdrift.<p>

"Oh hey, it's Lucas! What are you doing out here? Weren't you in town for some func-" Palkia spoke up.

"Please...don't mention that word. I get that enough from my state appointed secretary. 'Function' this, 'Function' that...GOD."

"It's ironic that you'd say that because-" Celebi started speaking, but was cut off by Sean.

"You get a secretary? That's pretty cool. Does sh-"

"SHE IS NOT COOL! She has single-handedly made my life a living nightmare!" Lucas yelled out. Celebi and a few of Sean's other pokemon couldn't help but surpress a slight smirk.

"Is she that bad? Seesh. I really don't wanna see what she can do with both hands then."

Lucas slumped. "Ha ha...but it's still pretty bad. I'm just out here to get away from her, that's all. So what're you guys doing? No new problems come up? Hey, Sean, let me try something...I'm going to try and broadcast everything your pokemon and Celebi say telepathically. Apparently I need to keep practicing my mew skills."

"Mew skills...that rhymes!" Palkia piped up.

"No it doesn't."

* * *

><p>Myu had teleported halfway up Mount Coronet; it was the best she could manage, what with only retaining some of her power and all.<p>

'_Ok Rayquaza...care to tell me what is so important?'_ She broadcasted as loudly as she could, before settling back against a wind-beaten tree. _'Quite chilly up here.'_

Moments later, a green serpent dragon thing swooped down and ate her.

"HEY! Firstly, your breath stinks." Myu yelled. "Also, what's with you picking me up like this? It's disgusting."

"Wha'a woul' yoo have done ins'sead?" Rayquaza attempted to speak as clearly as having something strangling your tongue allowed you to.

"Picked me up by my clothes? Let me ride you?" Myu yelled as she was dumped on the ground. It was evident Rayquaza had flown further up as there was a lot more snow everywhere and she could feel the chill seep into her bones (something made worse by the fact that her clothes were now sodden with...).

She shivered. Not big surprise.

A few metres away, Rayquaza fired a few air slashes at the ground to clear the snow away and shot a V-create at the sole tree on the plateau that they were on, setting it on fire, before picking Myu up and setting her near the tree and coiling up next to her.

"I couldn't pick you up by your shirt, because they might have ripped. And riding me? What if you fell off? There isn't much to grab onto and flying up here would have frozen you to death. You're still just as silly as you were when you were a mew."

"I...what? I'm not silly!" Myu pouted.

"Really? What about when you went and transformed a boy into a legendary without telling us or asking him? Had it ever occured to you that he might not have wanted to become a legendary? Had it occurred to you that transforming a well known person might provide him with some difficulties with regards to hiding his identity?"

Myu swatted at him. "Pff. Who doesn't want to be a legendary?"

"He doesn't, and you've made life very hard for him. Can't you just come back?"

There was a pause. Not a long one, mind you, but long enough so that it was worth mentioning.

"...no."

"Ok then, so we'll just head back to the hall and clear thi-" Rayquaza had already gotten up before he fully processed Mew's response. "Wait, did you say 'no'?"

"Yes."

"Aww...hell. I'm also guessing that you don't want to come back with me to talk about this with Arceus?" Rayquaza hung uncomfortably in the air. "You know...consider it?"

"I've had enough time to do so, thank you very much. I think I'm entitled to a holiday, and whether he likes it or not, Lucas is the best replacement."

"Don't you think you're being just a little selfish?" Rayquaza ventured. "I mea-"

"Selfish? Selfish! I've been doing my job long before you were born! I think I'm the second most deserving pokemon in the world of a holiday, and you're not going to take a few hundred years of rest from me! Hmph, even if you force me back, you know that I won't actually do anything useful." Myu had jumped to her feet in anger whilst activating her rant mode.

"Second most? Who is the most deserving pokemon?" Rayquaza asked, by now resigned to the fact that Myu wasn't coming back.

"Arceus, of course. He's been at this for as long as I have, and he hasn't even let himself go. Believe it or not, I used to be serious about everything I did, too, but time...time is a formidable thing. Never get on Celebi's bad side."

"Haven't you done that? What with turning him-"

"Nope. Was just following orders, I was." Myu winked, before walking out of the clearing Rayquaza had made. Soon, she came back.

"That being said, could you give me a quick lift down the mountain on your way back?"

Rayquaza smiled evilly as he scooped her up. "Of course. Does Iron Island sound good?"

"Wait, wha-"

* * *

><p>"Hmm..." Aron said. It had been a lot quieter since the departure of Myu so soon after Morgan had left, and it meant that their trek back to the cycling road had been a lot less lively.<p>

"What?" Isrea asked.

"I was just thinking..."

"For a change."

"Very funny. I was just thinking...since when could we get reception inside Mount Coronet?"

"I- Hey...I actually don't think we could. Food for thought."

"Yum."

* * *

><p>Captain Sinther observed Lucas' aide (his files informed him that her name was Liesel Baravania-Schlutz) as she furiously punched at her phone, trying to find the person to whom she had been assigned to.<p>

'_Well, this is interesting. I did detect some psychic energy a few minutes ago, so a teleport WAS used. I need to check if Lucas has any other pokemon that know teleport...if not, then...I've got all the info I need.'_

* * *

><p>Steven and Rush were doing what they usually did when Aron and Isrea were travelling; lazily riding the currents as they scouted around (Aron and Isrea were moving too slowly for them to follow directly above, so they flew in circles around their two trainers).<p>

They had been flying for two or so hours after lunch when Steven broke the silence.

"Hey, Rush."

"Hmm?" The staravia in question nonchalantly rolled of the thermal he had been riding to drop to Steven's height.

"Talk to me." Steven observed a short stutter in Rush's flight pattern, and it emboldened his will to press the matter further.

"I am talking to you. What are you talking about?"

"I'm not talking to you about anything, but I AM telling you to talk to me so that I can talk to you about it."

"I don't understand. So you want to talk to me even though you don't? Or is it that you want me to talk to you first before you can talk to me about what we're currently talking about? That doesn't make sense; I'm already talking to you."

"I know what you're doing, Rush. I'm talking about what we talked about just before we meet Gilly and Sacha. You know, when I came over to your pokeball to talk and you started to talk."

"I..." Rush hesitated.

"Look, you've gotta tell us what's bugging you! Everyone's noticed, you know." Steven pleaded. As an afterthought, he added, "well, except Firael. Alexa has, so I guess Firael knows too, but she hasn't mentioned it explicitly."

"Figures."

"Come on, Rush." Steven nudged Rush lightly.

"Well, it was when I was only a hatchling...I never knew my father; apparently, he was a pidgey, but was only migrating, and he left soon after I hatched. I wasn't born in Sinnoh. Nearby Sinnoh lie a group of three islands, and they make up a small region known as Almia, or something. They had no trainers there-"

"Woah, really? So all the pokemon are wild?"

"Nearly."

"Nearly?"

"Yeah. You see, there were people there as well, but they had these weird spinny things, and they'd use those to capture pokemon and use them once before the pokemon left."

"Right. So like disposable pokeballs?"

"Well, nearly. You see, the tops, from what my mother told me, are supposed to emit _friendliness._"

"What. That just sounds like it came straight from some show. One that would involve lots of ponyta...and it would be called something like 'Friendship is Magical' and have those spinny things in there..."

"Well, they make the pokemon more friendly towards the ranger, you see, so that the ranger can have the pokemon help him or her in any task. It only works once, then the pokemon invariably breaks out."

"Okay, got it."

"I don't know how they've convinced themselves, but whatever that top does, it doesn't transmit friendliness. Think about it. These top thingies are basically _forcing_ you to befriend the ranger, and your attacks are the only thing that can stop the top from literally binding you to that ranger until he needs to use you. Use, not work with. You don't form any sort of relationship between the ranger at all, which is why pokemon never stay after they've been used more than once. It's more a form of temporary slavery than anything else."

"Woah, what? That's a lot to say, you know. You're sure these tops bind you to the ranger against your will?"

"It's how I lost my mother."

* * *

><p>It had been a wet, warm and generally uncomfortable trip for Myu, again having to ride inside Rayquaza's mouth. She'd spent a large amount of the time yelling at him, and the rest with her eyes shut, trying to ignore exactly what she was lying on.<p>

Eventually, they reached Iron Island, where Rayquaza rather unceremoniously dumped her on the ground. Myu huffily got up.

"Don't complain, it was on my way back." Rayquaza said.

"Not funny. How am I supposed to get back onto the mainland?"

Rayquaza, however, had already left.

* * *

><p>"It was a few weeks after I was born, when I was old enough to fly, but only a short distance, so I still spent most of my time in the nest with my older brother. Still, it meant that my mother bought us berries for food. It was always a nervous wait, you know? Not knowing if she was gonna come back. Soon I would be able to go out with her, and I was really looking forwards to that. First Forage was a big thing for us wild pokemon."<p>

Rush sighed and shook his head, staring dejectedly at the ground as they glided through the air.

"It never happened. That day, I saw my mother approaching, before she suddenly dropped. She kept struggling, trying to get back to us, and after a bit, I could see the small top that was whizzing around her when she looked us dead in the eye. I still remember the last words she said to me: 'I won't let them take me, son. I'll fight them to the very-'

But then she just stopped. She just...stopped fighting and let the stylus spin around her a few more times, turned away and flew off with that trainer. That was it. She was gone."

Steven tried to say something tactful. "That...that must have been really hard for you." Immediately after those words, he cursed himself for being so apathetic. _'Idiot. Was that really the best you could say? You sound like one of those politicians that has to give a statement at a funeral.'_

Luckily, Rush didn't pick up or just didn't care.

"She never came back. My brother and I waited for a few weeks, but we were driven out; I wasn't old enough to be able to fight, and soon my brother reckoned he'd have a better chance of surviving if he ditched me."

"He what?"

"So...yeah. It was pretty rough, him leaving...I was barely a month old and all alone in the wide world, huh. I told myself I'd never get caught by one of those contraptions as they'd already caused me so much pain, and after asking around found out that there was a nearby country that didn't have those. Long story short, I stowed away on a ship and ended up here."

"Wow. I never would have guessed...you always seemed so happy, until recently. What set you off, then?" Steven asked carefully, trying not to push Rush too far.

"It was Firael and Alexa. They let themselves into my pokeball, presumably for a chat, while I was inside my..." Rush trailed off, not knowing the word.

"That stone door inside your pokeball? What's in there?"

"Well, it's like a memorial to my mother, and I store what little memories I have of her there, so that when I'm a bit down, I can just go there and cheer myself up. I'd just lost a 1v1 against a grass type, so I was feeling pretty bad...and Firael and Alexa went in after I was inside...I guess I just snapped. We never were the best of friends, Firael moreso than Alexa, who is actually all right." Rush stared at something that only he could see. "I blew my stack. Chased them out. The only problem was that I couldn't bring up the memories of my mother again. Not vividly enough so I could relive them, anyway. I still remember what happened for those few weeks, her warm feathers..." Rush faltered. "I just couldn't anymore, because every time I did, I would worry about someone else coming in..."

"Rush..."

"I'm sorry. Just...I need some time to myself, ok?"

"Yeah, that's cool with me. I'll see ya on the ground then. Don't do anything crazy."

* * *

><p>"You're the most insane pokemon I've met." Grover said as he watched Celebi jump into a bath that had been completely filled with hot water.<p>

"You need to get out more often, then. " Celebi quipped, slowly relaxing into the steaming water. "Anyway, it's stress relief after having had to watch you guys fight that gym battle. Did well, by the way, taking down two of Candice's pokemon after-"

"Lael tripped straight into a Focus Blast? Yeah...although the abomasnow who knocked Lael out was laughing so hard it wasn't a real battle."

"Whatever you say. Not gonna let Lael forget that for a while." Celebi smirked.

* * *

><p>Morgan sighed;It had gotten significantly quieter since she had left Aron and Isrea. Still, it gave her more of a chance to move through the route slower. She'd also taken to having the scyther and the ninjask that Aron and Isrea had practically forced upon her around, although the only pokemon they seemed to get along with was Adele.<p>

* * *

><p>Steven swooped down towards the area where Aron and Isrea had decided to set up camp for the night, alighting next to Rush.<p>

"Hey, Rush. I can't really give you any advice, as it's your problem and yours to deal with, but you're essentially getting upset over the fact that you don't have a way to _stop_ being upset. See what I'm getting at?"

Rush blithely buffeted Steven with a wing in reply. "Nice try, but it ain't so easy!"

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you wipe that grin off your face?"

"I don't have one!" Rush couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"Oh really?" Steven sarcastically responded.

"That's it!"

Alexa soon walked past where two bird pokemon were playfully tussling in the grass together.

'_Firael, don't we usually do that?'_

'_Eh...let them have their fun. Rush hasn't been as pesky, so it's a win-win, huh?'_

'_Hmm...yeah."_

* * *

><p><strong>Reference to MLP because it's 2:26 AM and it popped into my head. Also worked some Pokemon Ranger canon inside...but I know nothing about the Rangers, apart from a basic understanding of how the styluses work. If I made a mistake, feel free to point it out! I always did think the whole stylus concept was a bit wacky though.<strong>

**Also, about Myu hitching a ride on (read: in) Rayquaza...yeah...but I was trying to be practical and it was the only way I could visualise someone catching a ride on Rayquaza. I don't buy the 7.0m height given to him (or, for that matter, the heights given to all the large legendaries) and I just don't think he'd be small enough for a human to wrap his/her arms around his neck (also known as his entire body -.-). I don't like either, and if anyone can come up with a better alternative, I'll happily retcon the two bits where Rayquaza carries her in his mouth.**

**MUST STOP USING SKARMORY WHEN BUILDING TEAMS. :(**

* * *

><p><strong>Pichufan: Thanks! I try my best XD<strong>

**thewookie1: Yes, the fic is reviewing you. And it thinks your review is four lines long. It's not good at math. Also, I will backstab you one day!**

**SpyroCinderMal100: Scout/Steven did evolve. Congrats on picking it. ;)**

**dsiuserhere: Should probably fix that, but it's because I joined the first two chapters together.**

**Tsaukpaetra: Speaking of back-stories...hey there, Rush. But his story had been planned since chapter 6-ish.**

**Cyberfire22: Those continent names have been here since chapter...6? Not too sure. Around there somewhere. I figured you guys were okay with them, so I didn't change them. Chicheblen was a bit random though. Also, 'Asjen' is pronounced 'Asian'. Amnica's name was based of America. No substitute for Europe or Africa though... :( Antarctica don't get no love either.**

**Soldier of the Future: Now that I think about it...chapter 1 is looking more and more like a stupid gimmick. I hope things clear out in the next few chapters. :S**

* * *

><p><strong>Makybe: Hey, guys...you know how I crushed our mouse the last time I tried to use one?<strong>

**Firael: Yeah? Don't tell me you've done it again...**

**Vendel: Nah, it's just that Vendel and I managed to hook up a kinect thing to the computer, so we don't have to use the mouse anymore, just point and push to select stuff.**

**Gilly: All me, son. All me...**

**Steven: Seems pretty cool...I don't have to muck around with my wings anymore, or fall over trying to use the mouse with my foot.**

**Makybe: There's just one problem...**

**Firael: What?**

**Makybe: You'll just have to pull Rush off Dance Central.**

**Firael: Gladly.**

**Steven: Err...Gilly...exactly how is Rush even playing Dance Central? He's not exactly the right shape...**

**Gilly: It involves toilet paper, duct tape and is hilarious.**


	33. Drats speaks

**This chapter was written about 15 months after the previous one. Yeah, there was a period of time where I went on a really long hiatus due to exams (which was supposed to only be about 6 months long). However, once I left it became really hard to pick up where I left off, especially with something as complicated as this fic. The Super Brief Recap was added for the then-current readers so that they could refresh their memories (and so I could do the same). A shoutout to pichufan, who helped me up with this. I'm keeping it in since it's not really doing any harm.**

**Disclaimer: The Super Brief Recap (SBR)(TM) is designed for educational purposes only. Any attempt to profit off the SBR is prohibited and fines of upwards of some monies may be charged.**

* * *

><p><em>Super brief recap (TM): <strong>Rob<strong> and **Rai** (his raichu) have been caught and are currently languishing in the care of Team Plasma/Galactic with **Sonya**, who isn't on the best of terms with Rob at the moment due to her past dealings with **Firael** (his charmander, whose personality was merged together with **Alexa's** by Sonya; these tests were conducted as **Saturn** wished to become a perfect being, a goal he plans to fulfill by becoming Arceus). _**Nikolai** is the Team Rocket scientist that was part of the team that merged Alexa and Firael. He is currently working with Sonya in an effort to recreate the technology that was destroyed when the project was abandoned.__

_Aron and Isrea are chilling in Mount Coronet and are preparing to head out. **Kova** (Rocket) and **Rynade** (Galactic) were last seen meeting up in Eterna City. **Myu** (ex-mew who is now a human) has just arrived at Iron Island after jetting there on Air Rayquaza (economy class)._

_**Aron's team**:_

_Steven(m) - Swellow (used to be human, came from alternate universe - recently evolved; humans call him **Scout** since they don't know)_

_Firael/Alexa(f) - Charmeleon (Alexa was a human until her personality got fused with Firael's, who used to belong to Rob)_

_Gilly(m) - Gligar_

_Sasha(f) - Sandshrew_

_**Isrea's team:**_

_Vendel(m) - Prinplup_

_Rush(m) - Staravia_

_Makybe(f) - Ponyta_

_**Lucas** (who is currently a mew in the form of a human), **Sean**, **Celebi** (who is currently an axew) and **Palkia** (who is currently a human) were last seen in the surrounds of Snowpoint city. **Captain Sinther** (Rocket) is around as well. Sinther is trying to find mew, and (based on information Giovanni got from Kova) suspects that Lucas may own it/he/she/need a better pronoun._

__**Liesel Baravania-Schlutz** (I always get her last name wrong, haha) is Lucas' aide who pretty much controls his timetable. Lucas isn't a fan.__

**_Sean's team:_**

_Lael(f) - Lucario_

_Zaroa(f) - Bronzong (evolved between this and the last chapter)_

_Skiera(f) - Skarmory_

_Ston(m) - Magneton_

_Grover(m) - Medicham (evolved between this and the last chapter)_

**_P_**_**alkia** was transformed into a human after the events in chapters 1 to 10 or thereabouts. **Celebi** was turned into an axew. They're both with Sean, who knows who they really are. Palkia currently goes by **Sharon**. In absolute emergencies, they can transform back but only if Sean deems it necessary due to an earlier incident in chapter 23 that arose from the unforeseen complications of nerfing a legendary's power._

_**Pluto** was given a plane ticket back to Johto and 100 dollars to go back to Team Rocket. However, she isn't entirely sure where her loyalties now lie._

_**Drats** and **Vaiel** (who used to be **Rob's** dragonair and vaporeon) were last seen heading northwest from the area between Hearthome and Solaceon cities. This was quite some time ago._

_**Morgan** is going back through Floaroma Town before heading for Veilstone City._

**_Morgan's team:_**

_Sonata(m): Chatot_

_Rynka(f): Bellossom_

_Adele(f): Ninetales_

_Scythe(m): Scizor (used to belong to **Rob**)_

_Zask(m): Ninjask (used to belong to **Rob**)_

**Hope this helped bolster your memories. It certainly helped mine.**

* * *

><p>It hadn't been too much trouble for Kova and Ryande to figure out where the two trainers with the charmeleon they were chasing were headed; Route 211 only lead to the pass through Mount Coronet that opened into Celestic Town. It was with this knowledge that they approached Mount Coronet, wanting to make up for the lost time that that pesky trainer with the raichu had cost them.<p>

* * *

><p>It's only been a few minutes since I'd evolved, and I have to say that I really have no problem with what has happened. I mean, I'd always been a little worried about suddenly getting a new body — what if it was clumsier and slower? Sure, maybe I would have been stronger, but it still would have sucked.<p>

But this...this is like being a pawn who got promoted to a queen in chess. Man, I used to suck at that game. Ok, I still do. Even so, everything is better and I'm just so much more awesome now as a swellow. Going to have to try hard to not admire myself every time I fly over a puddle or pass a mirror because I'm so gorgeous. So gorgeous.

We're literally camped outside Mount Coronet since Aron got us lost once we left Mount Coronet. Why? Because he thought he had found a shortcut to the Cycling Road without having to go through Eterna. Didn't quite happen. We got lost and just decided to backtrack to where we are currently. So much for getting through Mount Coronet ASAP. Ay-Sap. It sounds so American, doesn't it?

Yeah...

I barely remember America now.

* * *

><p>"Rayquaza! You come back here! Rayquaza! Rayquaza?" Rayquaza grinned as he observed Myu storm around in circles several hundred metres below him. It didn't look as though she had noticed that he had not yet left. He would have preferred to use some cloud cover, but his ability unfortunately stopped him from doing so. Still, it was fun waiting around to see how long it would take for Myu to notice the green speck amongst the vast blue expanse.<p>

There was no way Rayquaza was going to leave without Myu, but he had hoped that he could persuade her to come with him. Unfortunately, he was having to be rather forceful. Rayquaza still gained some comfort from the knowledge that he now knew exactly where Myu was and didn't have to go through the hassle of looking for her again. He winced when he heard Myu's next words drift up to him.

"I swear, if I ever see you again, I'm going to tie you into a knot - quicksmart!"

Rayquaza mentally conjured up a response and imagined himself with a pair of ludicrously large sunglasses. 'That's...knot very nice! 'YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HHHHH!'

* * *

><p>"This...this is tough work." Vaiel grunted as she rolled another boulder out of the way as Drats looked on. The two pokemon had reached the Celestic pass through Mount Coronet a day ago and had spent the previous 4 hours slowly working their way through the heart of the mountain. Drats fought any territorial battles against the resident pokemon — the dragonair felt like she needed the battle experience and didn't want to further burden her travelling companion with more work as the vaporeon already had her work cut out just by having to push so many boulders out of the way with — constantly having to boost herself with Strength tired Vaiel quickly.<p>

'Looking on the bright side, we've been going uphill for a long time. We should be near the top by now.' Vaiel thought as she slumped against a cave wall.

"Drats, I gotta take a breather. Give me a minute, will you?"

* * *

><p><em>'We're taking our sweet time getting set up tonight. It's already dark."<em>

"Yeknow, for a big girl like you, you sure don't talk much, do ya?" Makybe jumped a little as a weight landed on her back. "No, I guess I just like to keep to myself, that's all," she replied as she turned around to see who had started the conversation. Firael/Alexa (she had actually started to think of them as the same pokemon and had begun calling them by the name of Firexa in her head) was with Aron and Isrea as they got a fire going her tail. She wasn't too surprised to see Gilly lying down on her back, looking for all the world as if he belonged there.

'We'll see about that...'

"YOEARRRRRGH!" All heads turned towards Gilly, who had quickly jumped off Makybe's back with smoke trailing off him. "That weren't very nice...why d'you get so fired up like that for?" He complained, as in the background, Alexa, having spun around with her tail still flaming (as opposed to the slightly warm faux-fire that they normally had on their tails) had begun setting fire to the grass.

Makybe smirked. "Too hot to handle?"

"Ah say what I like and I what like I say, you wit' me? Err...I mean...I like what I say...tha' sounds more like it. Ooh, this grass feels mighty good...mmmm..." Gilly stretched his wings out as Makybe stood up and headed towards the accidental fire that Alexa had started.

"Well, I hope I didn't hurt you too bad, but I've just got to go get Vendel, since it looks like they've gone and used too much fire."

"Eh?" Gilly's head bobbed up from his resting position as he checked out the frantic movements of Aron, Alexa and Isrea. "Doncha mean fire in the wrong place? Jeez, that's a lot'a smoke!"

"Yeah...that. VENDEL!"

* * *

><p>Kova and Rynade had been set up a tent and were breaking out some cold rations when Kova sniffed the air.<p>

"Say, isn't that smoke?"

Rynade shrugged. "You think it's them? They would have had to be going really slowly if it's taken them this long to get here."

Kova just threw his pack of rations to the side in response. "We should still check it out. They might have stopped here for training if they didn't have anywhere that they particularly wanted to go."

"Yeah, and if it's not those trainers, they might still share their fire with us. Cold rations aren't amazing."

"Speak for yourself. Our rations could be worse."

"You think they'd let us use their campfire?"

"Shut up."

* * *

><p>"Say, isn't that smoke?" Vaiel said. Drats, physically incapable of shrugging, simply stared back pointedly.<p>

A short moment of silence passed, just long enough that it's presence was noticeable by both pokemon.

"Ok, fine, you don't need to look at me like that! So not a lot of things smell like smoke." Vaiel huffed. "Want to go check it out?"

Drats nodded.

"Ok then, let's go."

Another moment passed as the two pokemon headed towards the smell.

"Maybe they'll let us share their campfire..."

* * *

><p>"Oh hey Vendel, there you are! We've been lookinfff-" Rush didn't quite get to finish his exclamation as he was quickly stifled by Vendel.<p>

"shhhh..."

"Oh, right", Rush whispered. "Errr...what's the story behind your sudden desire for quiet? Alexa's started a fire and we need you to help put it out, doncha know."

Vendel pointed to his ears. "Your ears are better than mine, birdbrain. Use them!"

_'Oi, watch who you call birdbrain! You're a bird anyway, that's not allowed!'_ Rush traitorously thought as he tried to hear what had gotten Vendel so worked up.

* * *

><p>Kova stopped, causing Rynade to rather noisily bump into him.<p>

"Watch it! Did you hear anything?"

"...No. Actually...I might have, but it's probably just some wild pokemon. It's not like they'd post lookouts."

* * *

><p>Rush's head snapped towards Vendel. "Is it them again?", he whispered.<p>

Vendel shrugged. "I'm going to head back now, because if it is them, and they see me, I'm might not be fast enough to escape. You, on the other hand..."

Rush got the implication. "Right. I'll inform everyone once I see what's going on." As Vendel slipped away as gracefully as he could (not very), Rush flapped up to the top of a tree and waited for the voices to come nearer.

"...really don't think that they'd post lookouts?" Rush tensed.

"No. Do you think 3 kids like that would even think to do such a thing? Wow, that is one hell of a campfire they've got going. Look at all that smoke!"

"I have no idea what they're doing, but no campfire should produce that much smoke. Even if they didn't think they were getting chased, that much smoke just stifles the camp, especially when the wind changes."

"Well, in the end, I don't really care. Let's just get what we came here for."

'This is bad...' Rush darted from his cover and started racing for their camp. Unfortunately, Rynade was too quick on the uptake and immediately called out his murkrow.

"Get that Staravia!"

Rush hadn't expected the other trainer to have a flying pokemon at hand and for that trainer to have such quick reflexes. Whilst he would have been able to outrun most flying pokemon, the murkrow was obviously a lot more experienced than he was.

_'And hard hitting...I'm in some serious trouble.'_

In the short space of a few seconds, the murkrow was snapping at his tailfeathers while Rush desperately tried to keep his speed up whilst avoiding repeated peck attacks.

'I'm not going to mak-' Rush's frantic thoughts were interrupted by a dark fist that seemed to appear from nowhere which made contact with the middle of his beak. It felt like someone had driven a nail into the front of his skull. Instantly dazed, Rush could only sluggishly blink as the whiplash sent spinning backwards, red blotches appearing in his vision as the world crazily tilted about him. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he needed to start flying again but thoughts weren't forming complete as he dropped like a stone.

Just before red filled his vision and he lost his grip on reality, he heard a far off voice.

"Looks like you didn't see that sucker punch coming, pipsqueak."

He hit the ground hard.

* * *

><p>Kova whistled in appreciation. "That's a nice murkrow you've got trained up, not to mention those reactions. I didn't think your murkrow would have been able to chase a staravia down."<p>

Rynade grinned. It was the first compliment he had gotten from Kova since they had met. "Thanks, although my murkrow has been training for a lot longer than that staravia."

Kova grunted and quickened his pace. "We should still hurry. They might have had more than one pokemon around. I don't feel like chasing anyone today and if we can catch them before they've had a chance to pack their vitals, they won't leave without food, water and shelter.

Rynade whistled to his murkrow to come back as the two started running while they discussed a plan of attack.

"That reflect-explosion combo is a very nifty one you've got, but we'll probably want to position your weezing so that we can put as many of them out of action as possible. My pokemon can clean up. I reckon leading with smog to work with the smoke cover..."

* * *

><p>"Well then. Thanks for putting that out, Vendel." Alexa clapped the prinplup on the back.<p>

"Yes, yes, but I've got some more pressing news. That thief that tried to nab you about a fortnight ago? He might be back."

Firael's eyes widened. "What?" Vendel shivered. He could have sworn that the charmeleon's eyes had shifted colour as Alexa let (an obviously worried) Firael out before quickly chiding himself.

_'That's stupid, charmeleons can't change the colour of their eyes'._

"Look," he said, "I left Rush behind the scout them while I came back to tell you, since he should be able to outrun most things. It's just that we heard voices and I thought that they sounded familiar."

Firael looked to the skies. "Oh, that's good thinking. When d'you think Rush'll be back, then?"

Vendel frowned. "Shouldn't be long now. Difficult to see him because of the night sky and all this smoke."

Firael nodded. "Weird...I don't think the fire caused this much smoke."

* * *

><p>Rynade was careful to stand upwind of Kova's weezing.<p>

"Alright, I'll go in. Remember, positioning is key - don't be afraid to take extra time to-"

"Yeah, yeah I got ya. Just do your job, okay?" Kova snapped back.

Rynade tucked his face into his clothes and scampered around the campsite.

* * *

><p>Previously minding her own business away from the smoke, Sasha did not have much time to react to the shape that blurred past her. "Hey!", she cried, spinning around.<p>

Scizor rammed into her from behind and followed up with a bullet punch to her head.

Dazed, Sasha slumped to all fours as her vision started to waver and dim.

* * *

><p>Everyone turned at the sound of Sasha's exclamation.<p>

"What was that?" Aron called out as everyone started heading over to the source of the sound. However, before they got there, they heard Gilly cry out in pain before the gilgar's cries were quickly silenced.

Makybe and Vendel got to Gilly first as they tried to chase a dark figure off the gilgar's paralysed figure. Seeing that Makybe and Vendel had reinforcements, the dark shape, who Vendel made out to be some sort of bird pokemon, retreated back into the darkness. Vendel stooped over a twitching Gilly.

"Hey, how're you doing?:

"Ah've had better days meself, but i-it's just a thunderwave. Y-you got here before that bird thing really got ta work on me."

As Gilly finished speaking, all hell broke loose.

* * *

><p>As soon as he saw everyone head towards the source of the commotion, Kova and his pokemon stole up behind his target. Fortunately for him, most of them were grouped up and looking towards one of the downed pokemon. Kova stopped and motioned for his pokemon to perform their selfdestruct-protect combo.<p>

His golbat positioned herself between Kova and his weezing, brought up her shield and braced herself. Soon afterwards, his weezing blew himself up, and all hell broke loose.

Unfortunately, Kova had underestimated the amount of smog that his weezing had previously pumped into the campfire (most of which was located in the area around him) and was taken by surprise as the entire campsite went up in a huge ball of flames. While he was protected by the shockwave let off by selfdestruct, Kova was still thrown off his feet by the rapid displacement of heated air that suddenly seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Cursing his lack of foresight and also the fact that he had neglected to preserve his night vision during the explosion, Kova stumbled to his feet, blinking rapidly in an attempt to get his eyes used to the lack of light (as smoke had blocked out most of the moon and starlight). Two additional sources of light shone like beacons in the night, and Kova knew that one of them was his target.

_'Good. Looks like we've wrapped this one up nicely.'_

* * *

><p>Vaiel and Drats had just approached the clearing when they heard a loud explosion, quickly followed by a softer and lower <em>'woomph'<em> sound, accompanied by a billowing fireball flying up into the sky before quickly dissipating. Blinded, the two pokemon staggered backwards.

Behind her, Vaiel heard Drats cry out a warning. Instinctively, Vaiel turned around to face her.

"Drat— oof!" However, the vaporeon didn't get much of a chance to say anything as she was struck from behind by...something, pushing her into the dragonair as she tried to keep her footing. Drats helpfully made things easier by bracing herself against her. As Vaiel took a few moments to regain her senses, Drats slithered over to investigate the projectile, which seemed to be a pokemon.

"Ugh...I need a massage, preferably from a massage guy. What just happened?" the pokemon said, revealing his species by speaking.

Vaiel brightened up slightly. The swellow didn't seem to be hostile, although he wasn't really in a position to exhibit hostility. "It's masseur, but I'm afraid that neither me nor Drats can help you out in that regard. I don't know what happened either, but I'm guessing that you didn't set off that explosion on purpose, unless I'm sorely mistaken and you're a budding pyromaniac."

The swellow slowly got to his feet, shaking himself out in an attempt to limber himself up. "Explosion...oh for crying out loud! It's those guys again!"

"Those guys?"

"Yeah, they seem to really want Firael for some reason. By the way, name's Steven. Sorry, but I've got to get back to everyone else to see if they're all right. I could have sworn I heard Sasha cry out." Steven started hopping towards the now pitch-black campsite.

'Did he just say Firael?' The swellow's last statement caught Vaiel off guard. "Hey! Did you just say 'Firael''? Hey! Wait up!"

Vaiel glanced at Drats, who simply started following Steven.

'I guess we'll find out one way or another...'

* * *

><p>Rynade was not a happy man. The brief inferno caused by Kova's weezing lgniting his own smog with selfdestruct had fried his scizor (who were notorious for their relationship with fire) harder and faster than some of the more dubious fast food joints he had had the misfortune of enjoying.<p>

'We've already lost two of our pokemon and my murkrow got hit pretty hard by that explosion as well. At least those kids' pokemon all seem to be out of commission.'

He quickly recalled his scizor and called his murkrow over. "Now," he said, "You've obviously got better night vision than me, so could you lead me to that nutjob Kova? Keep calling out every few seconds so I don't lose you."

"Caw."

* * *

><p>Sasha finally managed to steady herself and tried to peer into the gloom. She had heard a large explosion and felt a brief surge of heat, but was far enough away to avoid the brunt of the damage.<p>

_'Uuuugh. I can't see a thing out here! I might as well be walking blindfolded - oh, there's a bit of light. I'll bet that's Firael or Makybe. Maybe they'll be able to shed some light on the situation.'_

With a chuckle, she dropped onto all fours and started making her way towards the light.

'I hope I don't run into that pokemon who knocked me out again; he really packed a punch.'

Before she reached the lightsource, she heard someone near her calling out softly.

"Who goes?"

Recognising the voice as Steven's, she quickly padded over and bumped into him. "Ooh, sorry. Didn't realise you were so close. I dunno about you, but the only way I'm going to be able to see anything is if we get to Firael or Makybe."

"Yeah, I was heading that way as well. I can't really fly at the moment, my left wing's sore from that fireball thing. The updraft caught me by surprise and I totally lost control. I did...err...bump into two other pokemon on the way here though - they might come in handy."

"That sounds bad. You should get your wing checked after this is over." Sasha said before the second part of Steven's reply registered. "Wait, two other pokemon? How do you know they're not with those guys?"

Although she couldn't see him do so, Steven shrugged. "I dunno. They seemed nice enough considering I cracked one of them pretty hard in the head. They're a few steps behind me and one of them thinks she knows Firael."

At this point, a voice unfamilar to Sasha spoke up. "Not quite. I don't know Firael, but my trainer once owned a charmander named Firael before he lost her to a Rocket Grunt. Considering that your Firael happens to be a charmeleon with, according to Steven, a bit of a history."

"Yeah well I'm still not sure I completely trust you, but I think we'll need all the help we can get. That explosion has probably knocked out the rest of our team and Steven's in no shape to fight. If you help us drive these two trainers away, we'll talk."

"Deal."

"Right. More walking, less talking!"

* * *

><p>Kova jumped as he felt a hand on his back.<p>

"Relax, it's just me. We need to have words after this. What in the world were you thinking?!" Rynade whispered.

"I...I forgot that smog was flammable."

"This is the second time you've made that mistake!"

"Well, it seems to have knocked everyone out, so quit your whining!"

"It also knocked out my scizor and my murkrow isn't in the best shape, all thanks to your dunderheadedness!"

They stopped at the sight of a ponyta on the ground with a few other pokemon around her.

"Well...this isn't the charmeleon we're looking for." Kova quipped.

"Nice observation. Care to tell me more?" Rynade snapped. "She must be the other light source. Come on."

* * *

><p>"Steven, how do you know that that flame is Firael and not Makybe?" Sasha asked as they neared the flame.<p>

"Oh, can't you tell? Their flames are different colours!"

Sasha squinted. "Really? I can't see a difference."

"It's probably because swellow generally have better eyesight than most pokemon." The vaporeon said. "By the way, my name is Vaiel and the Dragonair behind me is Drats."

"Oh, she's a Dragonair? I couldn't quite pick the pokemon in this light and she hasn't spoken. My name's Sasha and I guess you already know who this reprobate is."

"OI" Steven said. "I'll have you know I've never probated before!"

Drats laughed. Vaiel shook her head and smiled at the swellow. "You obviously don't know what a 'reprobate' is, do you?"

"Maybe. Why should I tell you anyway?"

Any further bickering was stopped as they had reached the prone form of Firael. Sasha was already trying to revive her by slapping her face, but was having very little success.

"You know, hitting someone who has been knocked out doesn't usually work." Steven said.

Sasha stood up and crossed her arms. "Well, what else can I do? You probably would have tried to probate her or something."

"Not fun- huk!" Steven was caught by surprise as he was hit by a dark form. Flinching from astonishment, he stumbled backwards, straight into a sucker punch. Already hurting from his landing, he didn't get up again.

"That's one more down for the count." Sasha spun round to face the voice that had come from behind her, only to be hit from behind. Checking herself, she got down on all fours and spun round, throwing some soil into the air in the hope of blinding her opponent. Hearing a golbat (Sasha could tell them apart by sound just from having lived in the caves for so long) screech from her left, she heard Vaiel blindly firing water guns into the air around her.

"Vaiel, we're not getting anywhere by spamming attacks everywhere! Do you have any attacks that provide light? That golbat doesn't need light to see, and I'm pretty sure that their other pokemon is a dark-flying type, so she can probably see better than us."

The vaporeon must have heard her as she looked straight up into the sky and fired off a large rainbow-coloured beam. It didn't provide a huge amount of light, but Sasha could now see the murkrow that had been harassing her. Knowing that she really couldn't do much to a murkrow, she conjured a swift attack and threw it at the murkrow, attempting to stall for time. In the light provided by Vaiel's Auora Beam, Sasha could also see the two trainers that had been hunting for Firael.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Drats blow a twister of dragon fire at the now visible golbat. The change in wind threw the golbat off her evasive flight pattern, which allowed Drats to follow up with a thunderwave, temporarily putting the golbat out of commission.

Unfazed by the loss of her partner, the murkrow dived at Sasha, preparing a wing attack. Realising that she wasn't really in a position to evade the attack, Sasha curled up into a ball to try and lessen the brunt of the damage.

It never came. Suddenly, the clearing was deathly quiet. Vaiel stopped channeling her Aurora beam and it became dark once more, save for the scant light provided by the flickering of Firael's tail flame and that of Makybe's mane some metres away.

Sasha got to her feet. "What happened?"

Vaiel and Drats moved into the small circle of light offered by Firael. Now that she saw them up close, it was evident that the vaporeon and dragonair were a great deal stronger than anyone else in their group.

Drats looked at Vaiel, who nodded at her. The dragonair gave Vaiel a few more furtive glances before the vaporeon snapped. "I was too busy looking up at the sky to see what happened. You've got to talk, Drats."

Drats sighed, meekly mumbling "they recalled and ran" before clamping her mouth shut once more.

Sasha let out a breath. "So it's over?"

Vaiel nodded. "Yeah, it probably is. Just in case, we should probably take watches until the night is over. I'll take first watch and I'll wake Drats up next. You'll have morning watch."

Grateful that Vaiel had been so generous, Sasha smiled back. "Thanks - I'm absolutely buggered. See you on the other side." Beside her, she felt the long sinewy coils of Drats protectively curl around the dwarfed form of Firael.

Once again, all was quiet.

* * *

><p><strong>The time skips can finally begin, and the battle that I had so dreaded writing has finally been finished! WHOOO! I feel absolutely terrible that I haven't updated this in 15 months, but maybe...just maybe, I might be able to push out finished chapters more consistently. It's been so long that I had forgotten how to add a new chapter. <strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: It's been a while, hasn't it?<strong>

**Rush: Yeah. Things really have changed.**

**Steven: Really? Like what?**

**Rush: Life. Other things.**

**Steven: Yeah, it happens. Time waits for no man.**

**Rush: Yeah. Life sweeps you along, and sometimes you forget...**

**Steven: And other times you tell yourself that you'll come back to other things later...**

**Rush: But 'other things' always get left behind.**

**Steven: Dust settles-**

**Rush: And you lose track of everything.**


	34. In out in out in out in out

It hurt to breathe. I try moving my chest out more than a centimetre or so but a sharp pain stabs me into my ribs. The pain makes me draw breath and the pain twists and turns in knots as blood comes burbling into my mouth. I want to scream, to shout, to cry for help, but I don't have enough air. In out in out in out in out-

I'm scared.

Not only is breathing a struggle, but I know for certain that the backs of my wings should not be touching, and I can't open my right eye. I don't even know what I'm looking at with my left. It's green. Or red. Or black. I know I'm bleeding somewhere but I can't tell how bad it is. All I know is that I can't move, I can't breathe and nobody knows where I am. In out...in out in out...in out in out...

Even if I'm found, will I ever be able to fly again?

All I can do is just lie here, a living statue, fighting a losing battle against my own body while I wait for the inevitable. I can't keep this up for much longer. In out... in out... in out... in out...

So much blood...so much pai-

There is a painful and torturous bliss to be found within the blackness.

* * *

><p><span><strong>This was a little experiment with present tense narration and a first person POV. It's a bit of a prelude to the next chapter, and the two were published together.<strong>

**Have a good one!**


	35. Wherein a lot of things happen

**The third OC is introduced this chapter (Patrick, from 'Ryu Dragonclaw'). Forgot to mention when the second one came up, but it was Morgan, from ej92.**

**A few missing characters from last chapter's Super Brief Recap:**

**Liesel Baravania-Schlutz **(_I always get her last name wrong, haha) is **Lucas'** aide who pretty much controls his timetable. Lucas isn't a fan._

_**Palkia** was transformed into a human after the events in chapters 1 to 10 or thereabouts. **Celebi** was turned into an axew. They're both with **Sean**, who knows who they really are. **Palkia** currently goes by **Sharon**. In absolute emergencies, they can transform back but only if Sean deems it necessary due to an earlier incident in chapter 23 that arose from the unforeseen complications of nerfing a legendary's power._

_Finally, **Nikolai** is the Team Rocket scientist that was part of the team that merged Alexa and Firael. He is currently working with Sonya in an effort to recreate the technology that was destroyed when the project was abandoned. A bit of history between them._

**P.S WHY IS SUNYSHORE SPELT WITH ONLY ONE N HNNNNNNNNNNNNNG**

**Disclaimer: Any misspellings of 'Sunyshore' are not my fault and are actually Game Freak's for making that name so easily to screw up. Any misspellings of 'misspellings' are entirely my fault unless they're not. **

* * *

><p>Sasha watched the sun go up. It was only upon extended reflection that she realised that they were extremely lucky that Vaiel and Drats had shown up when they did. If it weren't for those two pokemon, she highly doubted that she would have been able to hold off a golbat and a murkrow. Golbats had given her a lot of grief when she had lived in the caves and the murkrow that had attacked them was a lot more powerful than the golbats that roamed the caves she lived in.<p>

She cast her gaze over the two pokemon in question. Drats had nudged her awake (to keep watch) before nodding straight off to sleep, and Sasha had begun to suspect that she wouldn't be hearing much from the dragonair. The vaporeon, on the other hand, seemed to have a solid head on her shoulders.

A groan roused her from her thoughts.

"Oh god, what happened?" Clutching his head, Sasha saw Vendel slowly get to his feet and stare around him. The ground near the detonation zone had all been burnt away, and every step stirred up greyish ashes that made the prinplup look faded, as if he were cut out from an old photograph. Sasha waved him over.

"Hey, Vendel! Over here! We can wait for the others to wake up together."

* * *

><p>Neither Kova nor Rynade spoke as they flew back to Eterna city on their respective pokemon. What was there to say?<p>

* * *

><p>Over the course of the next 2 hours, everyone in the camp had slowly aroused themselves and started taking stock of any injuries. Isrea and Aron had both sustained burns to the back of their necks and Isrea sported a purple splotch along her right arm from landing awkwardly on a rock. Steven had (after much poking around in Aron's pokedex) apparently suffered a concussion from his encounter with the murkrow and a strained wing which had been bent back from the force of the updraft. Interestingly enough, Gilly had suffered the least out of everyone as everyone had accidentally shielded him from the brunt of the explosion and he had only really been hit with a thunderwave attack.<p>

After insisting to Steven that he had to spend most of the next few days in his glass ball so that he could get 'physical and cognitive rest...that's what the pokedex says!' and throwing some bandages over their own burns, Aron and Isrea confronted the two new pokemon that had appeared overnight.

"I don't get it," Aron was saying. "You two want to join us? That's pretty cool and all, but why? Also, what in the world are a vaporeon and dragonair doing out here? I don't even think either of your species are native to Sinnoh."

"Well, I'm personally not going to complain. They were probably another trainer's pokemon. Are you?" Isrea addressed Drats and Vaiel.

Drats nervously looked at Vaiel, who nodded back.

"Ah, I knew it!" Aron tapped his nose as Isrea glared at him. "So you two are trying to find him or her again, right?"

A shake of the head.

"Oh. Then why'd-" Aron was interrupted by Firael, who had run over with a look of panic on her face. She was alternating between flapping her arms and pointing at the forest around her. "Woah, Firael, what wrong?"

Isrea frowned. "I'm confused. Bird?" Firael nodded and held 2 claws up. "2 birds? Huh. Yeeaaaahhh...we have 2 bir-"

Then it hit her.

"Where's Rush? Oh no. Aron, have you seen Rush anywhere?"

* * *

><p>"Well, you certainly breezed through my pokemon without too much of a hassle. You certainly deserve this." Candice handed Sean the Icicle badge. "Your pokemon seemed to work really well and fought my pokemon with obviously rehearsed strategies. When you did have to call out a command, it was followed so quickly you caught me by surprise. You've got a good bond with your pokemon. Don't waste it. Your bronzong was a brick wall and while I could tell your medicham was freshly evolved, he still held his ground well."<p>

"Thanks." Sean sheepishly grinned. He couldn't help but notice Palkia winking at him from the stands as Celebi rolled his eyes.

Candice's voice brought his attention back to her. "I'm assuming that Sunyshore is your last destination? I still get trainers of varying skill, although I don't usually get 7 and 1 badge trainers. However, Volkner tells me he hasn't gotten any challengers that don't already have 7 badges in over 5 months. Then again, he doesn't get a huge number of challengers anyway. Not many make it as far as you have, Sean. Good luck against Volkner."

* * *

><p>"Vendel, you sure Rush is in this direction?" Aron asked the prinplup, who simply nodded and continued combing the undergrowth for signs of Rush. While he was a lot less likely to find Rush compared to pokemon with a good sense of smell (Sasha and Vaiel were the two that came to mind), you never knew...<p>

"I think that blindly searching isn't going to get us anywhere." Alexa said. "We should be trying to figure out why Rush hasn't made it back and try tailoring our search accordingly."

"It's worth a shot. So what assumptions should we make?" Makybe mused. "I think it's safe to say that he didn't get lost since he's always had a good head for directions."

"So he either decided to leave of his own volition or he was attacked." Vendel contributed.

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious that he was attacked by the trainers that were after me."

"Makes sense, since they might have seen him and attacked him on sight. From what I heard, that murkrow was a pretty dangerous beast." Vendel threw a stick into the brush.

"So if they attacked him on sight, Rush would probably have been in flying, right? If he was brought down, we might be able to see where he was brought down from the sky."

Vaiel came up with an idea and called out to Drats. "Drats can fly, so why don't you go up and check the region ou-"

"Oh my god!" Isrea's shouts stopped any further deliberation. "Everyone, come quick! I've found him!"

As everyone rushed over to Isrea, Gilly, who had listened to the entire conversation, scratched his head and muttered "Tha' was a whole lotta brain work for naught. Too much ning nonging fer me likin'."

* * *

><p>By the time Gilly had reached Rush's body, Aron and Isrea had already emptied their medical supplies on the ground and were trying to decide on a course of action.<p>

"Thank goodness he's alive, but he looks really bad. We need to get him to a pokemon centre soon. God, look at all the blood!"

Isrea picked up some cold spray and used it on a large gash across the staravia's torso. "Problem is that we're a bit of a walk from Eterna city and I don't want to risk running into those trainers again. Besides, Scout needs to get to a pokemon centre to have that concussion looked at as well."

Aron had crushed some painkillers in a bottle cap and filled it to the brim with water. As he tried to get Rush to drink the solution, he started throwing out some possible alternatives.

"The next two closest pokemon centres are in Celestic town and Hearthome city, but Celestic is out of the question because of those bloody boulders in Mount Coronet and getting to Hearthome involves going through Celestic or Eterna anyway."

"Vay!" Isrea glanced at Vaiel, who had just called out. "What is it, vaporeon?" In response, Vaiel walked over to a tree trunk and mimicked pushing against it. Isrea quickly got the idea and checked her pokedex. "Wait, you reckon you can clear us a path to Celestic?"

Vaiel nodded.

"Wow, that's great news!" Aron stood up. "I think that in that case, we should try to get to Celestic. The only worry is that we're going to be two pokemon down, but I guess that you two more than make up for Scout and Rush being out of action." The last sentence was directed at Drats and Vaiel. "By the way, what about names? Do you want some?"

Vaiel and Drats looked at each other briefly before shaking their heads. Meanwhile, Isrea had packed up the odd potions and sprays that they had used to treat Rush.

"I'll recall Rush once the painkiller starts to take effect. I'm pretty sure pokeballs hold pokemon in stasis, that should stop Rush from having to suffer too much throughout the journey."

"The bottle said that the painkillers take 20 minutes to take effect? To be safe, let's wait an hour and then head for Celestic."

* * *

><p>As they sat around waiting for Rush to absorb the painkillers, the pokemon were hosting a bit of an impromptu conference.<p>

"So you're telling me that you're now only half Firael?" Vaiel asked, incredulous at what she was hearing.

"Yeah...so if you're having trouble believing her- their story, maybe we should wait a bit before I tell mine." Steven chuckled, drawing a glare from the vaporeon.

"Well, I haven't asked you for yours, have I?"

"Ouch. Harsh"

Firael ignored the interjection and replied to the earlier question. "I wouldn't say I'm half Firael - I'm still all here, but it's just that I've got...sorta like...double the personality now. Don't think of two half personalities, but two overlapping whole ones. We used to take turns as the pilot, but recently, things have been getting fuzzy. There have been times where both of us thought we were controlling the body and nobody realised that we were making the same actions in tandem. It's really confusing at the moment. You actually just missed Rob. We ran into him a few days ago."

"You did? What happened?" Vaiel asked. The revelations just kept coming.

"Well, the same two people were trying to steal me again and Rob stepped in to defend us with his raichu, scizor and ninjask. Unfortunately, we don't really know what happened to him or his raichu, but he managed to save his scizor and ninjask. His scyther and scizor decided to stay with a photographer that was travelling with us, but we split ways a while ago. We're meeting up again at Veilstone though, so you guys can talk there. It was a bit odd that neither of them mentioned you though."

Vaiel laughed. "Did you ask? If you didn't, they wouldn't have mentioned us. Scythe and Zask aren't the most talkative of pokemon. I'll tell how we came to end up here, but-" Vaiel was interrupted by a red flash of light before Aron called for everyone to get up and start moving.

"I'll tell you after we leave Mount Coronet. I don't want to tell the story while I'm clearing debris, I won't finish the story before we reach the caves and I hate half-finished stories." Vaiel said.

* * *

><p>It took everyone several days to get to Celestic Town, although the journey under Mount Coronet was relatively uneventful as the pokemon there still remembered fighting Drats and mostly kept their distance. Inside the mountain, Aron had given Isrea two of his Glass Balls as Vaiel and Drats refused to get captured with normal pokeballs.<p>

Once they had entered Celestic Town, Aron and Isrea made a beeline for the pokemon center.

"Hello and welcome to the Celestic Town Pokemon Centre!" The nurse at the counter smiled at Aron and Isrea as they approached.

Isrea took Rush's pokeball out. "Two of our pokemon were attacked by a much more powerful murkrow and one of them is very badly injured. Could you have a look at him, please?"

The nurse's smile was replaced by a more serious demeanour. "Definitely. Before I do so, is there anything else you'd like?"

Aron handed the nurse Steven's pokeball. "This was the other pokemon that was attacked although I think he only suffered from a concussion. Could you also give our other pokemon a bit of a topup and book us accommodation for 2 nights?"

"Sure! I'll deal with the other pokeballs and get you your rooms first. Trainer card?"

After Aron and Isrea's other pokemon were healed up and they had been given a key to their room, the nurse brought them to an empty ward and let Rush out. As soon as she caught a glimpse of Rush's mangled form, she immediately set to work.

"Oh dear. Your staravia is in a very bad way indeed. What exactly happened to him?"

"We're not too sure because we only found him after the murkrow's trainer tried to steal one of our pokemon. We think he got knocked out of the sky by the murkrow, although we have no way of knowing for sure. The only things we've done is put a cold spray along his front for that cut and fed him some painkillers. After that we recalled him and headed for Celestic Town."

The nurse nodded grimly. "Well, you did a pretty good job considering what you had with you. I'll need a few hours alone with him before I can tell you if he's going to suffer from any long term issues with those injuries, although those, if any, should still disappear if he evolves. One of the miracles of life, huh? Well, now that I've got him on a drip, would you care to show me the other one that got attacked? Release him on this bed."

Scout was duly let out and the nurse performed some basic tests, such as getting him to follow her hand and telling him to spin around without falling. When she was finished, the nurse stood up and shook her head at Aron. "It's definitely concussion. He'll probably need another week of rest before he'll be fit to do any strenuous physical activity. He can stay here if you want, but it isn't necessary. You'll just have to keep him in his ball most of the time otherwise."

Aron scratched his head. "Hmmm...I'd rather keep everyone together but I also want to keep moving. Isrea, what do you think?"

"I reckon we should wait until we know more about Rush's condition."

The nurse nodded at the reply. "Ok then. Come back in a couple of hours then. If this is your first time, I suggest checking out our shrine. It's quite a popular tourist spot! Also, have you considered reporting the thieves to the police?"

"What is there to report? We can't really describe them very well and we know next to nothing about them. Thanks for the suggestion though."

* * *

><p>Patrick Davis didn't want to cry, and yet the tears continued to flow.<p>

"Patrick, I know she was your best friend, but these things happen in war." his mother said.

"It's not fair! Why did the deoxies have to kill her? It wasn't like she was fighting against her or anything - they just killed her because she was there!"

"Life's not fair, son. By the way, Deoxys is simply the name of their leader, not the aliens that are invading us. Those are Fortroids."

"But why her? Why?"

"She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Pat. Still, she has a gift for you."

"Sh- she does?" Patrick sniffed.

"Yes, I got it with the news of the spacecarrier attack. Their shuttle didn't stand a chance; it had no weapons of any kind and the kadabra on board could only teleport so many people away." Patrick's mother pulled a purple rock out of her pocket and gave it to him. It gleamed in the light as Patrick looked it over.

"Wow...what is it? It looks kinda old."

"I don't know. All I know is that she wanted to pass it on to you."

* * *

><p>Later that night, Aron and Isrea visited Rush's ward again.<p>

The nurse had a little bit of good news for them. "Your staravia will be fine once he recovers, although he's going to scar along that torso until he next evolves. However, he is currently in a critical but stable condition. He has completed dislocated his left wing and he has a punctured lung from some broken ribs. To top it all off, the poor thing has a fracture in his skull near his beak. I've reset the wing and put a cast on both the wing and his skull so those two can heal up. He'll have to be fed intravenously for the next few weeks until he can use his beak again."

"My chest hurts just thinking about that! Poor Rush..." Aron mumbled, shocked by the extent of Rush's injuries.

"I knew it was bad but this was a lot more than I expected. Do you know how long it'll take him to recover?" Isrea asked.

The nurse bowed her head in thought. "It'll probably take a month and a bit. If you want, I can send him over once he's good using the PC system."

"The PC system? What, you can store pokemon in computers now?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes, the Postal Collective. It's an internal system of bird pokemon that we use to ferry pokemon to and from different pokemon centres. It costs a small amount of money, but nothing too steep. Essentialy, I put Rush into his pokeba- sorry, Glass Ball and put it in a box, which is then picked up by a bird pokemon of some sort and flown over to the central pokemon centre hub in Veilstone. From there, there are a lot of bird pokemon that deliver from that central centre to all the other pokemon centers. Naturally, delivery to Veilstone is cheaper than delivery to other centres."

"Hmm, that actually sounds really good since if we leave today, we'll have enough time to attempt the gym at Hearthome before getting to Veilstone. I reckon we can do that within a month." Aron said, deep in thought.

Isrea punched him on the shoulder. "That's if you don't get us lost, you dumbo. I'm pretty sure you can rent bicycles from Solaceon to Hearthome and back anyway, since that path gets a lot of throughfare. Shouldn't be too tricky to get our badge at Hearthome as long as we get it on our first attempt."

"I guess it's settled then." Aron clapped his hands together. "We'll use the PC service to get Rush to Veilstone in a month or so. We'll probably take Scout with us and just rest him because he'll go crazy from boredom otherwise. Thanks, nurse!"

The nurse smiled back. "It's no problem. I'm just doing my job. It's a bit of a pity you plan on going to Veilstone at such an awkward time though, since that town is going to be in the middle of preparations for the Millennium Festival. It's just over 7 months away and so a lot of the infrastructure is still half finished."

Isrea shrugged. "Oh well. We can always visit again when the Festival is on."

As they walked out of Rush's ward, Aron pointed to the pokeballs at Isrea's belt.

"We should tell all the pokemon when get to our room."

"Yeah, good idea. Actually, if you want to fill out the PC forms since Rush is your pokemon, I'll take everyone and tell them now."

"Sure. See you upstairs!"

* * *

><p>"Okay, so explain to me again why I need to do the same advertisement 6 times?" Lucas asked, crossing his arms in frustration.<p>

Liesel calmly placed her hand on his shoulder. "Jubilife TV station wants a different ad for the Millenium Festival every month."

"Different? They're not different at all! The script's exactly the same except one number's been replaced!"

"Technica-"

"Don't give me 'technically'! They're practically the same. I don't think audiences are going to enjoy watching the same ad on television for 7 months in a row! I certainly won't!"

"6 months. They start airing them next month."

"Whatever. I wouldn't have minded if it was a different ad every month or if it was just a voiceover, but they want 6 versions of a live action scene of me walking past a Rube Goldberg machine? Are you kidding me?"

"Well, it's one of the things you agreed to when you became champion."

"But...but...Do you have any idea how many takes it's going to take to get ONE successful take? One does not simply make a Rube Goldberg machine work! They want six. SIX. We'll be lucky if we finish in time for the next Millenium Festival...ugh." Lucas slumped into a nearby couch and threw his hands up in defeat. At least the hotel that the television station had provided for was comfortable.

"Well, I'll personally make sure that they don't run overtime." Liesel pulled out a tablet and started tapping at it.

"Yes, well...you would. God help them if they run just one second past your timetable" Lucas sighed. Suddenly, an idea struck him.

'_What's the point of having psychic powers if I can't just...you know, make things progress a little more smoothly than they otherwise would?'_

Significantly cheered up, Lucas got up and headed for the exit of his studio. "Ah whatever, I trust you to make sure everything works. I'm off to the games room. Gotta brush up on my ping pong skills." To prove a point, he practiced a few swings which failed to impress anyone watching. The carpet, on the other hand, was absolutely floored by his impeccable technique.

* * *

><p>"Awww yea...I love Sunyshore!"<p>

Sean got off Skiera and gave the skarmory a pat on the beak before stretching out. As soon as he had left the landing bay, he let everyone out in the sun and made a beeline straight for the park.

That is, if there was one.

"Whaddya mean you don't have a park?!" Sean groaned. The clerk at the information desk shrugged.

"We're mostly built on limestone and rock, so you don't get much that grows here. You could try our markets, which are pretty popular. You can also visit the beach."

Consigned to the fact that the park was not going to happen, Sean walked out of the information centre and headed to the market.

'_Fine. Might as well do the whole tourist thing. I need to get me some new Bay Rans anyway. I lost my old pair of sunglasses a few weeks ago. I'll start training for the Beacon badge tomorrow.'_

* * *

><p>After two weeks of travelling and light training without much fanfare (apart from Sasha evolving into a sandslash shortly after leaving Celestic Town), Aron and Isrea found themselves at the front of Hearthome's Gym. They entered and were greeted by -<p>

"Bonjour! Je m'appelle Fantina!" Aron and Isrea both stopped dead in their tracks.

'_Oh my god that is a heap of purple. My eyes are watering...I can almost smell the purple-'_

"Err, good morning?" Isrea ventured nervously.

Fantina chuckled. "Oh, don't be so nervous! Can I check how many badges you have? I just need to know what team to use against you two."

"Oh, we've both got two." Aron presented his badge case (which he had already pulled out of his bag prior to entering the gym).

"Ah, so coming straight from Gardenia, I see? In that case, all you need to do is impress me, and you'll get your badge. Which of you two wish to fight me first?"

"I'll go first." Isrea said.

"Merveilleux! I shall see you in the arena in two minutes." Turning to Aron, Fantina pointed to a small viewer's box. "Just watch the match from the box. The design of my arena makes it hard to see what's happening, so the box has a few books you can read while waiting for the battle to end. Bonne chance!"

* * *

><p>A knock at the door.<p>

"Yes," Saturn waved his hand at the door. "Come in. Who is it?"

"It is I, Nikolai." The Rocket scientist shuffled in and carefully shut the door.

"Please, sit down."

Nikolai duly sat.

"Now, tell me why you're here."

"Well, it's about our attempts on getting the transfer machinery working."

"Hmm?"

"I have a feeling that progress is going too slowly; she's shirking."

Saturn raised an eyebrow. "Sonya did say that she had lost her notes."

"Yes, but she was making decent headway before that trainer was lumped in with her. After that, all progress effectively stopped. We're still stuck at the same problem that we've had since that trainer came."

"Ah yes, that trainer. Rob, if I recall correctly. I placed him with her because I found it amusing."

Now it was Nikolai's turn to look quizzical. "Why so?"

"Do you remember the charmander you fused with a human?"

Nikolai frowned. "Well, yes."

"That charmander used to belong to the trainer we now have in custody, if my information is correct. I simply thought it would be rather interesting for them to have to live together. However, if they are planning something, then that simply musn't happen. I'll plant some microphones in their room to see if they are planning anything."

"Thank you, Saturn."

"Noted. Goodbye."

* * *

><p>Isrea had ended up winning her battle against a surprised Fantina with the additional strength provided by Drats, who was able to take out two of Fantina's 3 pokemon on her own after Makybe and Vendel combined to take down Fantina's lead of drifblim. As it was a 3 on 3 battle, Vaiel chose to sit the fight out.<p>

"Your pokemon fought well. That dragonair of yours is strong!" Fantina said as she presented Isrea with her badge.

"Thanks, although it was nice of you to have those strings hanging from the ceiling. It would have been a lot harder otherwise."

"Oui, oui. I had to put them in because too many people were complaining." Fantina chuckled.

However, Aron was having a lot more trouble with his battle. Alexa barely managed to take down Fantina's first pokemon, knocking out the duskull before nearly falling on her own face. Aron quickly withdrew her, realising that she was in no fit state to continue fighting, an action that drew a pleased nod from Fantina. However, The rest of Aron's team struggled against Fantina's pokemon. Sasha barely landed a hit as haunter ran rings around her safe in the knowledge that there wasn't much Sasha could do to damage him due to his resistances. The newly evolved sandslash was reduced to throwing out a few poison stings in the hope of dealing a little bit of damage. After realising that Sasha literally had nothing else to hit haunter with other than the barely effective poison stings that she was thrown out, Aron resignedly recalled her after Sasha got hit by a confuse ray, even though she was still in relatively good fighting condition (albeit confused).

"I like what you did, boy!" Fantina called out.

Gilly was sent out next and instantly starting faring better. While he was mostly limited to Night Slash and Feint Attack (as moves that were super effective against the haunter), the generally unavoidable nature of the second attack made up for his fairly predictable approach. The haunter started to catch on and started to throw sucker punches when he thought Gilly was going to attack. However, the repeated Feint Attacks soon wore down the haunter and he was finished off with a Night Slash.

Fantina's third pokemon was a gengar. A similar battle ensued between Gilly and the gengar, but Gilly managed to outmanoeuvre the slightly slower pokemon and just beat the gengar before facing his third pokemon in a row.

Fantina's last pokemon was a mismagius. Gilly, who by now was pretty tired, opted to go in and do as much damage as he could before he got knocked out. He had actually closed the gap on the mismagius with Feint attack as she was called out and started to throw Night slashes left and right before the onslaught was stopped by an Astonish, giving the mismagius enough time to finish the gligar off with two point blank magical leaves.

"You did good, Gilly." Aron recalled the spent gligar and let Scout out.

"Ooh dear." Fantina immediately responded. "This is going to be a boring last battle."

It took Aron a moment to figure out why. Scout was limited to pecking and hitting the mismagius with wing attacks while the mismagius had to resort to ineffective magical leaf spam. The first few minutes consisted of Scout carefully avoiding as many of the magical leaves as possible while slowly edging closer to the mismagius (who had backed into a corner). As soon as he got within hitting range, Scout unloaded on the helpless mismagius in a flurry of wings. After a few seconds of watching her mismagius cower in the corner under the swellow's attacks, Fantina recalled her and conceded the battle.

"Another close one! Your gligar and swellow fought quite well, but they had type advantages over the limited arsenals of my lower levelled pokemon. I was more impressed with your charmeleon's battle and how you handled your sandslash."

"But I just recalled her because it was a foregone conclusion. It's not like she was doing anything to your haunter, what with that one-quarter effectiveness poison has on him and the fact that he was immune to every other attack she had."

"Ah, yes," Fantina pointed at him. "That is exactly my point. You would not believe how many poorly prepared trainers I have seen stand there and watch as their pokemon get pummeled while not being able to do anything. I could tell that my mismagius couldn't do much once your swellow had cornered her, so I ended the match early. Regardless, you deserve your badge." She handed Aron the Relic Badge.

As Aron left the gym with Isrea, they heard Fantina call out to them. "Come back when you have more badges, you two! I'd like to battle you with a stronger team! À bientôt!"

* * *

><p>After a week of training on the shores of Sunyshore, Sean walked into the Sunyshore gym with Palkia and Celebi in tow. Instantly, Sean was glad that he had invested in a pair of expensive Bay Ran sunglasses as the interior was filled with light that would have blinded an unprepared person. As he looked upwards, Sean realised that the roof was actually a very large lens, filling the room with an immense amount of natural sunlight so that the interior was much brighter than it was outside.<p>

"Ah, a challenger. Do you like the roof?" Sean saw a blond and thinly built man walking towards him in a blue suede jacket and jeans.

"Yes...it's very, erm, dazzling." Celebi chuckled at the lame pun.

Volkner laughed at Sean's response. "It's a bit ironic that the electric gym owner's gym actually runs completely on solar power, but I kept blacking out the city with my electricity consumption, so the Pokemon commission came over and redesigned the gym so that there was no way I could cause another blackout again. Spoilsports, the lot of them. Come, let's have a meal before we battle. I rarely get any challengers and I find a lot of them don't want to have a chat after I've beaten. By the way, I'm Volkner." The gym leader extended a hand.

Sean had already eaten lunch a few hours beforehand, but he wasn't going to say no to free food. Shaking Volkner's hand, Sean returned the leader's smile. "Sure. I'm Sean and that's my friend, Sharon. She's just along for the ride."

"Sew!" Celebi was indignant upon being ignored. Sean smirked and pretended to ignore him. Volkner caught on quickly and tried to hide his grin as he replied to Sean's introductions. "Ah, it's good you have someone to travel with. Travelling solo is very difficult sometimes. While having pokemon with you does help a ton, sometimes it helps to be able to speak to someone that can give a reply that you can easily understand. I know a good restaurant where we can eat. My only rule is we don't talk about battling. Anything but battling."

"Say, what happens if another challenger turns up while we're away?" Palkia asked.

Volkner burst out into laughter. "That's actually a good question seeing as you don't know how few people I get. You're the first people I've had in about a week. If that does happen, I'll be sure to buy a lottery ticket."

* * *

><p>"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS I SWEAR TO GOD IF THIS IS THE LAST THING I EVER DO" Firael's enraged oaths could be heard from several hundred metres away. Unfortunately for Vendel and Vaiel, they were not several hundred metres away from Firael. Vendel winced and covered his ears while Vaiel just rolled her eyes and wished her hearing wasn't so good.<p>

"What happened this time?"

Vendel shrugged. "Gilly happened. Rush could have done the same if he was here, but he isn't, so yeah."

As Vendel finished speaking, Gilly flew past them with Firael hot on his heels.

"HEY FIRAEL!" Vendel shouted out. "What happened?"

"THAT PURPLE SCORPION SHOVED GRASS ALL THE WAY UP MY NOSE WHEN I FELL ASLEEP! COME BACK HERE!"

Vaiel shook her head. "I reckon that Firael doesn't hate Gilly as much as she says she does. She's had several chances to barbecue him already."

Vendel uncovered his ears. "I don't think so. I think Alexa's keeping her in check."

"Yeah, that's probably more likely. Otherwise I don't think Gilly would survive the week that it'll take us to get to Veilstone."

* * *

><p>"R-rob?" Rob jumped at the mention of his name. He had barely spoken to the scientist in the past month, preferring the company of Rai over the scientist that had done things he could not possibly forgive.<p>

"What?"

"I have an idea."

"Hmph. Well, go on."

Sonya barely resisted the urge to slap the trainer for his indifference. He knew she was trying to make the best of a dire situation, but he just refused to listen to anything she said.

"I've got a way of escaping."

"Oh really. That's interestin- Ow! What the —ing hell was that? You bastard!" Rob was reeling from the stinging backhand that Sonya had just dealt him.

"If you're going to insist on stigmatising me because of past actions, then I'll stop putting my ass on the line for you. You know I've been trying to drag things out as best as I can, and I don't get any thanks for doing so! Now I've actually come up with a way to get you out of here, you refuse to listen because it was my idea? If you're going to keep acting like you hold the moral high ground every time I speak to you, then I'll let you have the high ground and you'll be a cute fuzzy raichu within 5 days. Five days! Look, here's the deal. I tell you my idea and you respond to it tomorrow. If you refuse to respond tomorrow, then you better not have any appointments for next week. Well? Nevermind, you're not going to say anything yet. This is the plan. I can fake the transfer. Make it look like you've been moved across to Rai's consciousness where you've just been anaesthetised. They'll dump your body in a garbage dump with traces of drugs to fake an overdose, which is what they would have done to Alexa if she was old enough for it to be believable. After they dump you, you get the police involved so you can get your raichu out as well. Understand? Good. I'll hear from you tomorrow, or maybe I won't. Regardless, I don't care any more. What's the worst that could happen? If we get caught then the inevitable has just been brought forwards by a few months. You get stuck in Rai, and there's a good chance you spend the rest of your life here in Veilstone."

Rob simply glared at her. Sonya shook her head.

"It's all in your hands now. If you ignore me, you won't have those hands for much longer. Think about that."

* * *

><p>Sean watched the last battle nervously. Even though Sean only had 5 pokemon, Volkner had fielded a full team of 6 pokemon instead of matching the number of pokemon Sean had brought. Sean had expected this, as the last badge a trainer earnt was supposed to be against a gym leader who was actually trying his or her hardest. While Skiera hadn't lasted long, the skarmory quickly battered down by a barrage of electric attacks, Ston more than made up for that, managing to last two and a half pokemon due to his naturally strong defenses and good typing . Even Volkner was surprised by the magneton's resilience. It had now come down to one last fight between Lael and Volkner's luxray. While Lael held a defensive type advantage against most of Volkner's luxray's attacks, Lael was already worn down from having to finish off Volkner's second-to-last pokemon, a particularly tanky electrivire.<p>

At the moment, both pokemon had been throwing long ranged discharges and aura spheres at each other, but Sean knew that Lael would lose if the situation extended indefinitely as she was already tired out. Sean realised that he would have to go all-in, knowing that his lucario would win a close quarters engagement with her fighting moves and the effectiveness of her bone rush. As a result, he was both surprised and worried when Lael was startled by the sudden appearance of an ugly face the size of a car right in front of her after he asked her to close the gap after using swords dance.

'_Scary face? Why is that luxray standing his ground? I don't remember luxray having many good close quarters moves that weren't normal or dark type...'_

"Lael, use bone rush when you're close enough."

Something uneasily tugged at the back of Sean's mind. He was falling into some sort of a trap. He gritted his teeth as Lael recovered from the shock that the face provided and started to close the gap again, albeit a little more slowly.

'_He must want me to close the gap or luxray would be running, but it makes no sense! Luxray is useless at close range against a lucario! Unless...there's something I haven't considered. Which is more likely? Volkner making a mistake or banking on me not knowing something?'_

Sean changed his mind just as Lael reached the luxray, who had barely moved and was watching her with calm eyes.

"Lael, don't bone rush! Slow things down!" Sean had previously discussed defensive techniques with Lael, and had decided that shouting out the names of defensive techniques defeated the purpose of using one to catch the opponent off guard (what was the point of shouting protect and having the other pokemon stop attacking to save energy while the shield wore off?). By asking Lael to slow things down, he had essentially called for Lael to use Detect. Stopping in her tracks, the Lucario shut her eyes and held a paw forwards, trying to sense the luxray's next move so she could cast an aura shield to block it. Suddenly, the luxray let out a huge flash of red and yellow light which was quickly followed by a concussive shockwave that Sean could easily feel.

"What? Your luxray knows superpower?" Sean was shocked. "Never mind. Lael, speed things up!"

_'How did that luxray know superpower? That was lucky-the shockwave would have forced Lael to close the distance again and superpower would have done a lot of damage. At least the luxray's weaker now.'_

Due to the fact that she had see the attack coming just before it had hit, Lael had been able to avoid most of the attack. Volkner's luxray repeated the same attack in a last ditch effort, but this time Lael mimicked the attack and both superpower attacks launched both pokemon across the room. However, it was soon obvious that Lael's superpower attack had been a lot stronger and had meant that both pokemon had received about the same amount of damage due to type effectiveness working against Lael. However, even though Lael looked in much worse condition compared to Volkner's luxray, Sean knew the match had swung in their favour. As Volkner's luxray had used superpower twice, his luxray no longer packed any punch behind her attacks while Lael's mimicked superpower (Sean's call to speed things up was an order to use Me First) hadn't diminshed her boosted strength from swords dance.

"Lael, throw an aura sphere at luxray to keep him distracted, then swords dance once more. Finish the luxray off with extremespeed and bone rush!" Sean whispered to the lucario, who was only a few metres from him after the exchange of superpowers.

Volkner gritted his teeth. "Luxray, don't bother dodging the aura sphere! Use wild charge to finish that lucario of before she finishes that swords dance!"

Sean realised that the distraction wasn't going to work when he saw luxray make no attempt to avoid the sphere. "Lael, don't start the swords dance! Do your best to tank whatever attack luxray throws you and respond with a counter and a bone rush!"

Sean had no idea if Lael had heard his correction, as the luxray had charged straight through the sphere and launched into a flying tackle, electricity arcing along it's fur as it plowed into Lael. Lael took the full brunt of the hit but immediately went to ground, rolling with the luxray before she ended up pinning the luxray underneath her. Lael then proceeded to swat the luxray across her face with a glowing paw as she conjured a bone club with her other paw. She then started whacking the dazed luxray repeatedly until the luxray got recalled by an already clapping Volkner. Realising the battle was over, Sean left the trainer's zone and ran out onto the battlefield to hug Lael, who had fallen to her knees.

"I don't believe it! Lael, we've done it!" Sean ignored his lucario's chest spike as he tackled her to the ground.

"Luc." Lael smiled back, utterly spent.

* * *

><p>"First Name?"<p>

"Dora"

"Last Name?"

"Styx."

"Reason for entry?"

"Moving house. Feel like starting afresh."

"Good to know. Last question - do you have anything to declare? This includes any food you might have taken off the plane with you."

"I don't think so, but let me check." Pluto fumbled in her backpack and found a sandwich she'd forgotten about. "Oh, I must have gotten this on the plane. Thanks for reminding me."

The airport clerk smiled. "That's fine. Just get rid of it before customs, that's all." After stamping on Pluto's (freshly forged) passport, he gave Pluto her papers back and waved her through.

"Enjoy your stay in Unova!"

As she walked towards the 'nothing to declare' queue, Pluto smiled. Her papers were good and she was out. She had enough money from her earlier exploits to comfortably live out the rest of her years in peace.

'_I've only got one more thing to do, but I'll wait another week for the dust to settle. Then, who knows? I might pick up traning again, just at a casual level. It'll be good not having to worry about things for a change.'_

* * *

><p>Volkner had offered to take Sean to a play after they had both healed their pokemon, claiming that "It had been 3 or so months since I had last been beaten and I reckon we're both due for a bit of a treat." Sean, sensing that Volkner was just extremely lonely with so few challengers, happily obliged. In a sense, he felt a little sorry for Volkner, because most people just assumed that he was this unapproachable gatekeeper to the pokemon league that few managed to ever bypass.<p>

As they sat down fifteen minutes early for _The Taming of the Sandshrew_, written by an up and coming playwright, Wilhelm Pakeshear, Volkner leaned back and started talking.

"It's been such a refreshing experience, battling you. Normally when I get beat, it's by people who spam teams with 3 ground pokemon or something stupid, but you didn't. You didn't even have a good team against mine, if resistances were taken into account. Hell, you didn't even have a full team! In my opinion, there are 3 different types of trainers at the top level, the top level involving any trainer who has obtained 6 or more badges, the top 10% of all trainers. The first type are the ones that complete the gym circuit by abusing type advantages and grinding out extremely powerful opponents. These generally don't make it further than the gym circuit as the pokemon league doesn't shoehorn trainers into pre-determined types like Gym trainers are."

"Ah," Sean nodded. "So they wouldn't be able to build specific teams against their opponents since they actually don't know what they'll be facing."

"Exactly. While the Elite four still specialize in specific types, they have gone to great lengths to cover their bases and typically don't get beaten by the first type of trainer since that trainer has to use the same team for all four Elite four battles. That being said, the Elite four are just crazily good. I might be able to take down one pokemon on a good day, and that's only if I'm lucky." Volkner shook his head. "They're on another level. They really are. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yes. The second type of trainer are the ones that typically go into battles with predetermined strategies and rarely known gimmicks to catch other trainers off guard. That being said, I've pretty much seen all the tricks, so the trainers that do rely on tricks generally have a large bag of them and a strong team to boot."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. You're talking about baton pass teams and the such, am I right? I got demolished the first time I faced a baton pass team, but after that, they're quite easy to counter." Sean mused, thinking about his two battles with Rob.

"Baton pass teams run rampant at lower levels of battling because it's an easy strategy to pull off with amazingly good results. Some other good gimmicks or strategies include setting up stealth rocks, spikes and sometimes toxic spikes before forcing quick rotations with roar or something of the kind. More specific strategies include getting a pokemon to use wish just before it gets knocked out before swapping in a charizard, belly drumming, getting healed back up by the wish, and stomping everyone with charizard's crazily boosted power. Again, all of these are easily countered, but a new strategy will generally catch most trainers unawares.

Meanwhile, the third type of trainer is the one who prefers to run an all-purpose team with a few vague pre-determined strategies, but mostly focuses on improvisation during a battle. Most trainers that do well are of the third type, and I myself know a lot of trainers of the first or second type slowly switch across to the third type, because they are the only trainers who are versatile. Remember, training is all about versatility and the ability to think on the fly. Your usage of Detect and Me First at the end of that battle involved really good reactions and good thinking, but more impressive was the improvised strategy you quickly thought up before abandoning when you realised that I didn't want my luxray to be distracted by your lucario. You've got the right mindset to go big, kid."

Getting this much praise from someone that Sean knew to be a well respected trainer made Sean feel fuzzy with excitement. "Wow, thanks for the compliment. Do you have any tips for improvement?"

Volkner chuckled. "Well, for starters, you need to get a sixth pokemon, preferably one that can cover your weakness against fire and electric attacks or provide a lot of utility. You've got a tight-knit team, but all things being equal, a team of 5 will always lose to a team of 6. You yourself will need to do more research into tutored moves, which was how my luxray knew superpower. You used detect because I telegraphed my trap too obviously, but against a better trainer, that luxray would have tried to run away and possibly faked tripping so that you wouldn't have suspected a thing. Learn about tutored moves and about egg moves. While they are quite rare, they can be very powerful if you aren't prepared for them. Finally, the pair of Bay Ran sunglasses you have are fakes. Sorry, but Sunyshore is notorious for fake expensive merchandise."

"What? They're fake?!" Sean glared at Palkia and the rest of his pokemon, all of whom had started laughing at his reaction. Several people from the row in front of him hushed him with glares.

"Shh...the play's starting."

Sean made a strangled noise.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Nikolai!" Sonya called out.<p>

The scientist hurried over. "Yes dear?"

"Don't call me that. I've figured out the solution to our problem. It was mostly due to the fact that I'd forgotten a few important bits of code in my neural mapping software..."

* * *

><p>The day after watching <em>The Taming of the Sandshrew<em>, Sean found himself on the road again, heading for Victory road. Strolling along Route 223 at a leisurely pace, Sean decided to strike up a conversation.

"I still don't quite believe it, but here we are, heading for the pokemon league!"

With Palkia translating, Grover replied, "Yeah. I haven't been with you for long, but it feels like I've been with you guys forever."

"We've come a long way." Zaroa intoned.

"Still, we've got a long way to go, right?" Skiera said, swooping down to join everyone on the ground."

"Yeah. We're going to have to get one more addition to our team, but then that'll be it. The sky's the limit!"

"You bet!"

* * *

><p>Nearly a week had passed after Rob had grudgingly agreed to Sonya's plan, and Rob was currently trying to remain calm, knowing that that the room he was being taken into could spell the end of his existence as a human if their plan failed. For the sake of realism, Sonya had told him to struggle as he was being taken to the operating room, but Rob had quickly realised that it wasn't necessary as he didn't want to be anywhere near that room, plan or no plan.<p>

"Ah, Rob! Welcome to the operating room!" Rob heard one of the lead scientists say. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a sedated Rai get loaded into a smaller incubator.

"Today, we will bear witness to the evolution of a new and revolutionary technique, no thanks to Sonya standing over there." The scientist pointed over to Sonya, who was sullenly standing in a corner. "You would be glad to know that there have been several improvements to our system. Firstly, the transfer is faster and done while you're out cold, so you won't notice a thing. Secondly, we can swap minds, but this time we decided against -"

"Just shut up and get on with -argh!" Rob yelled out as one of the men handling him kicked his kneecap. As he collapsed under his own weight, the two men lifted Rob up and dropped him on the operating table before a breathing mask was jammed on his head. Instinctively, Rob tried to hold his breath for as long as possible, but as his lungs started to burn from the effort of not breathing, he was punched in the stomach. Reflexively, Rob breathed in, and immediately noticed the anesthetic start to take effect. Too tired to continue resisting, he gave in to a dreamless sleep.

'_I hope to hell this plan works.'_

* * *

><p>"The patient is now stable and sedated." Sonya heard a technician said.<p>

"Right, let's get this thing started! Oh, Sonya?" Nikolai said.

Heart thudding, Sonya lifted her eyes so that she was eye to eye with Nikolai.

"Yes?" Something was wrong.

"I found a few mistakes that you'd made in the code and fixed them up. Otherwise, nothing would have happened, and that would have been just tragic." Nikolai made an extremely sad face.

_'Heavens above...they knew!'_

The door opened, and the voice that came out chilled Sonya to the bone.

"Sonya, we need to talk."

Saturn.

* * *

><p>"We need focus fire over here! Patrick, get yo ass over here and deal some deeps!" Patrick glanced around him and saw that NopezSnopes and 14Fortraaa were getting overrun by one of the spectral glymphs that their group had been trying to battle. Knowing that a Wood Druid and a Goblin-troll hybrid were not going to stand much chance on their own, Patrick shifted across and threw several Spells of Big Damage at the spectral glymph before finishing it off with a spell of Very Big Damage.<p>

"Thanks, we kinda got separated from everyone else by that glymph." 14Fotraaa said, picking her club off the ground and heading over to the main fight.

"That's all cool and everything, but we need your buffs, Shareen! Let's go!" NopezSnopes nodded and pulled out a potion of +3 heals before lobbing them at the rest of their group who were engaged in the main battle.

"Shareen, Pat! Where the hell are you! You can't just leave us alone like that!" The group leader, FortroidDerproid said. "The fourth wave is about to come out, so we need everyone back to at least half heals and Nopez to full health! Go go go go g-"

"Patrick, it's time to go to bed!"

Patrick cursed his luck. "Mom! I need a bit more time! I'm in the middle of a raid and it's a really bi- LEEROY WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOOOOOOOO...argh."

"Err, Pat. What happened?"

Sighing, Patrick replied forlornly. "Doesn't matter, I'm going to bed. The raid ended earlier than expected."

"Ok then. Sleep tight!"

Stepping out of his hologram simulator, Patrick stomped to his bed mumbling under his breath.

"...Leeroy always goes ham at the worst times...we were doing so well too..."

Patrick got into bed and grabbed the rock that he had inherited from her. For some reason, looking into the rock's almost gemlike interior calmed him immensely. He turned off his bedside lamp and-

The rock was glowing slightly.

'Cool." Patrick said, and promptly went to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Hello! Welcome to the Veilstone City Pokemon Centre!" The nurse at the counter smiled at Aron and Isrea as they walked in, looking a little worse for wear after rushing the last few days of their trek from Hearthome City.<p>

"Could you please give our pokemon a quick top off and get us a room please?" Aron said as Isrea put her trainer card on the countertop.

"Also, we were told that...erm. I don't know how to go about collecting a pokemon sent over the PC system, but I've got one that should have arrived a day or two ago." Isrea started, unsure.

The nurse flashed a quick smile before replying. "Oh, it's quite simple. Any deliveries you register will show up under your trainer profile, so I can quickly check it for you while I get you some rooms. Let me just grab your pokeballs while I'm at it." Aron and Isrea handed the pokeballs over. "Great! Just take a seat over there while I get everything done."

Aron and Isrea grabbed some seats and slumped into them. Aron reached for a _Top Gear_ magazine (_'bringing you the latest in wearable technology!'_) and started riffling through the pages while Isrea silently watched the 24 hour news channel that was on the centre's television.

"...only after a 20 hour standoff that police finally managed to storm the home of Gabriel du Plessis, a man wanted for 4 separate bank robberies in the space of 2 weeks, resulting in estimated losses of over 2 million dollars...we now cut live to the scene in northern Johto..."

"Cool! Isrea, have a look at the new stuff planned for this pokegear thing! They say it's going to have a built in watch! That's some high quality stuff there! Woah...you can even customise the clock face!"

"Isrea?" The nurse was back. Aron and Isrea both stood up and moved over to the counter, where the nurse handed them a key and returned their pokeballs. Finally, she took gave Isrea a small box about the size of a pokeball. "Here are your pokemon back and this is your room key. You're in room 212 on the second floor. Isrea, your delivery came through and I'll just need you to sign this receipt to verify you received the pokemon. Also, a certain Morgan has been waiting for you - she asked me to tell you she was here should you turn up. She's in room 115 on the first floor."

"Morgan's here? That's pretty swell. We should probably visit her once we dump our stuff." Isrea said, cradling Rush's package.

"Sure. Might as well let everyone out as well."

* * *

><p>'<em>Lucas,<em>

_It may not surprise you to know that we have never met, but we certainly know of each other. Regardless, I have decided to cut my losses with Team Rocket and Galactic, but I do like a little bit of retribution, if only indirectly._

_The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Team Galactic HQ in Veilstone is a lot larger than you think, and that the police force in Veilstone is completely in the hand of Saturn. You'd do well to tell them nothing, for that is exactly what will end up on Saturn's desk._

_I do not care what you choose to do with this information, for I have placed everything behind me. However, I'm sure that you would want to stop things before they get out of hand._

_Regards,_

_-'_

Pluto gave her letter one last read before folding it up and placing it into an envelope marked with the address of the hotel Lucas had been staying in, something which had taken her a not inconsiderable amount of time to ferret out.

'_Now, how many stamps do I need to get this to Sinnoh again?'_

* * *

><p>'<em>Ugh...I don't feel too hot.'<em> Rob groggily thought as he opened his eyes.

'_Yeah...I've had better days.'_ Rai replied.

'_...'_

'_Oh no.'_

'_...'_

Rai more than felt the storm that was about to come, he could literally see the fury building up within Rob.

'_You're about to get very angry, aren't you?'_

* * *

><p>"Yo Leeroy!" Patrick called out over the throng of classmates heading out of school as the bell rung. Patrick grinned when he saw a redhead stop and turn around. Jogging over, he slapped his best friend on the back as they crossed over the school's boundary. Once over, they both let out their two pokemon out of their respective pokeballs.<p>

"So, care to tell me what came over you last night? You just went in against 50 spectral vodoles and baited us in! Hey Juka, don't bully Tuton, okay? That chespin's fragile!" Patrick broke off to scold his pancham, who was tussling with Leroy's chespin. Upon hearing Patrick's words, Tuton stuck his tongue out at Patrick, earning a laugh from Leroy.

"Naw Tuton, you know he's only joking. That little teddy bear couldn't hurt you even if she tried! As for what happened last night...you know how sometimes you get this notion that you've got to try something really crazy, really cool and really dangerous because you just _know_ that you'll be able to pull it off? You just kinda feel like you can do anything you want and that you're just invincible!"

"Yeah...NAH. I have no idea what you're talking about. I swear you're bonkers sometimes" Patrick picked Juka up and let the pancham ride on his back, something both Leroy and he did quite often. Sure enough, Leroy did the same thing shortly afterwards.

"Look, it felt like the zen thing to do."

"You don't know nothing 'bout zen, you doofus!" Patrick glanced at the time on the overlay that had been implanted in his eye. "Ah well, I've got to go. Football training's in 10 minutes and my mag scooter is still broken from when Juka tried taking it apart."

"All right then. See ya later!"

* * *

><p>As the two friends split ways, Patrick pulled out a pair of headphones and put them on. As soon as Juka realised the headphones were on, she poked him in the neck.<p>

"We both know that I didn't break the mag scooter! Hmph."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Suuure you didn't. The circuitry in the midshaft just decided to tangle itself up on it's own, did it? Dylactic nylon wire doesn't just do that, y'know."

Juka snatched a leaf off a low hanging branch and started chewing on it. "Maybe."

"Maybe my foot decides it wants to go to Chichleblen. How else could that have happened?"

"Well..."

"Yeah, that's right. Why did you take the scooter apart anyway?"

"I didn't take it apart!"

In exasperation, Patrick threw his hands up in the air. "Fine! I give up! You're impossible to argue with- HEY! What have I told you about sticking those leaves in my ear?"

"I don't remember," Juka said as sweetly as she could. "Maybe you could remind me?"

"JUKA!"

* * *

><p>There wasn't much space in the cage, but Sonya was currently trying to put as much space between the obviously angry raichu and herself.<p>

"Look Rob...err...Rai...Rab?"

"CHU!" The raichu shouted, taking a step forwards.

'_That's a lot of electricity coming out of those cheeks...notgoodnoooootgooooood I need to talk fast and start now.'_

"I didn't know! I didn't know! They must have heard about our plan somehow!" Sonya shouted, pushing herself up against the wall as the raichu edged closer.

Suddenly, he jumped, or at least he tried to. It seemed like the raichu's hind legs weren't listening to him as Rob/Rai started convulsing on the ground.

'_Oh no, what's happening?'_ Sonya said.

* * *

><p>"<em>Rai, what are you doing!" Rob yelled at the other raichu.<em>

"_Stopping you from murdering that scientist! What does it seem like I'm doing?" _

"_Well, stop it! How can you let her live after knowing what she's done to me and Firael? She betrayed us! Let go of the back legs!" Rob jumped at Rai, intending to tackle him, but he was quickly batted away by a hefty left hook, followed by a thundershock attack._

"_You really think you can fight me as a raichu?" Rai laughed. "You barely know your way around that body, and I happen to know it very well."_

_Rob grunted in pain._

"_So...while you're on the ground, let me try to talk some sense into you. Sonya obviously tried to help us and was caught. Why else would she be in the cage with us? Someone out there wants to toy with your emotions, and you're getting played like a pokeflute. Start thinking with your head and stop thinking with your heart, because it initially got us into this mess!"_

"_W-what? How did I get us into this mess? They were the people who kidnapped me!"_

_Rai shook his head. "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about your treatment of Vaiel, and Drats. More specifically, I'm talking about why they all decided to leave."_

"_L-leave? They didn't leave, I sent them away."_

_That caught Rai off guard. "Sent them away? You did nothing of the sor-"_

"_I SENT THEM AWAY. THEY WERE BOTH TOO WEAK. BOTH OF THEM. EVEN THOSE RARE CANDIES CAN'T CHANGE WHAT IS INHERENTLY WRONG!"_

_Rai's tail flared up in anger. "What did you say? You've degenerated into a horrendous trainer after Firael got stolen, and you've been borderline abusive towards Drats! Don't you DARE start blaming them for your losses. I don't think you get it since you seem to be living in your own little fantasy, but those two pokemon left because you were becoming unbearable to train with. You got to snap out of the reality you're living in, because now I'm a part of it and I don't want to have anything to do with any delusions you have."_

"_Then why did YOU stay?"_

_Rai gritted his teeth. "Because I felt like I had to. Regardless, I'm beginning to regret this decision. I had no idea that things had gotten this bad."_

_Rob didn't reply, so Rai promptly assumed full control over his body._

* * *

><p>Sonya finally relaxed as the raichu stopped convulsing and lay as if he was sleeping. When he started stirring again, Sonya got nervous once more and started edging up against the wall, but the raichu simply stood up and looked at her imploringly.<p>

'_As though he wants me to ask him a question...'_

"So...I'm guessing you're not Rob at the moment?"

Rai shook his head.

Sonya let out a sigh of relief.

"But Rob's there, right?"

A nod.

"Is he okay? I know he's probably furious with me, but you have to understand that I had no idea they knew about our plan!"

Rai shook his head and stared at the ground.

"It's not good, is it?"

When Rai didn't reply, she crossed the room and gathered the raichu in her arms.

"Look, we're still alive. As long as the body is kept alive, anything can happen, can't it? Just don't lose hope, both of you. I can still fix things. I know I can."

'_And yet I keep breaking. Shattering minds like a rock through glass.'_

* * *

><p>The door was answered after only 2 knocks as Aron and Isrea were greeted by a very familar and welcome face.<p>

"Morgan! It's good to see you again!" Isrea shouted, hugging the photographer before she could come up with a reply of her own. Aron joined in soon after, pushing everyone into the room where they all collapsed on the bed.

"Wow, you've really gotten sunburnt. You should really invest in some sunscren, Morgan."

"Speak for yourself! You look like a peeled tomato!" Morgan retorted laughing when Aron turned redder than he already was.

"Let's head outside - it's a good thing you got a first floor room since we need space to let everyone out."

"Why not? It's good weather at the moment anyway. You're gonna have to tell me about your trip after we split. Oh, it looks like that vaporeon and dragonair have really taken up with the scizor and ninjask you left with me. I gave them new names, you know. They're now called Bimbo and Bombo."

"I'm sorry?" Aron choked on some water he had just poured for himself.

"Just joking."

"Ahh...go boil your head. I've got water everywhere now. Wait...you can't peel tomatoes!"

* * *

><p>"Lucas." Liesel's voice stopped Lucas as he came back from the hotel's lunch.<p>

'_Oh no, I bet she's got another timetable reschedule'_ Lucas thought.

"You've got mail." Liesel handed Lucas a plain envelope.

"Oh. Oodd. Okay, let's have a look at it. I wonder who it came from? Not many people know exactly where I'm staying at the moment, and less people actually bother using the mail." Lucas opened the envelope and skimmed the letter quickly. Liesel watched as Lucas' face darkened and he sat down, before scanning the letter again.

"Liesel, I'm afraid the next week is going to have to be cleared. I've got something I need to deal with in Veilstone. I'll leave tomorrow morning."

"But the festival is exactly 6 months away tomorrow morning! This is a one in a thousand year event! You can't jus-"

"Liesel." Lucas put his hands on the secretary's shoulder. "I appreciate what it is you do. I really do, even though I complain most of the time." Liesel gave a weak smile. "However, there are times when my ceremonial duties as the pokemon champion are superseded by my functional duties as the pokemon champion. It doesn't happen often, but a situation has arisen and I'm going to need the next week to deal with it, if not more. Take it as a short holiday."

"A holiday?" Liesel whispered. "But I can't! I haven't done the required 9 months of work before I'm eligible for paid leave!"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Liesel, just enjoy the next week in the hotel. As far as the coffers are concerned, you're staying behind to look after my stuff while I go and deal with some people. If you don't want a holiday, then your job for the next week is to get good at table tennis so I actually have someone decent to play against."

Liesel knew when she had lost. "Fine. I'll have to reschedule everything anyway." She grumbled.

Lucas grinned. "Good. A small tip: Since you'll actually have the time to enjoy a good dinner instead of the sushi you always bring to your room, try the pork ragu with the fettuccine and add a small drizzle of the garlic aeoli. I guarantee you'll like it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to pack. I'll even keep an eye out for one of my ads."

* * *

><p><strong>MY GOD THIS CHAPTER IS HUGE. The combined total for this chapter and 34 is about 11 thousand words. That's a lot, even by my standards. However, I've gotten the last of the boring exposition out of the way. It should be pretty obvious to all where the final showdown is going to take place and how soon it should happen. :)<strong>

**I came very close to killing Rush off. Very close, but in the end I decided I didn't want to make the fic more complicated than it already was.**

**So punctured lungs typically take 2-3 months to heal but since Rush is a pokemon, I figured he'd heal faster. I also realise that I have been wrong for over 5 years when I discovered that 'Allez-vous' is, in fact, not French for 'goodbye'. Oops. A little trivia on Pluto's new assumed name: Styx is the name of the fifth and most recently discovered moon that orbits around Pluto, the world's most well known dwarf planet. You won't need to worry about remembering another name though; Pluto's role in the story is over. Well, you do have to remember Patrick; he was the third OC that I promised to put in the fic. I've been holding on to him for over 2 years now (I think) and I'm not even sure that the person who suggested him to me still uses FFnet.**

**Also, I actually know nothing about how large scale raids work in mmo's, so that scene with NopezSnopes et al is mostly based on stuff I've heard about. Interestingly enough, I didn't realise that 'glymph' didn't have a vowel in it until I got to proofreading the chapter.**

**Pichufan: Yeah, you helped me write the recap in May on Steam. Wasn't much, but it sowed the seeds that got me back on track.**

**Tsaukpaetra: I still remember when you were trying to guess where things were going, haha. I guess anyone could have seen the mess that this fic has become, with so many threads going everywhere. Rest assured, the fic is only going to get simpler from now on (and in a sense, it already has with the removal of Pluto). EXCEPT PATRICK HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAAHAH.**

**leygose: Sorry I got your hopes up :( Hopefully the length of this one makes up for it?**

**valeforXD: I'm sorry...I'll wait till next year for 36 then.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Looks like Rush really took a beating, huh?<strong>

**Rush: You have NO idea.**

**Steven: Actually, I kinda do. I kinda got attacked by Arceus, and that didn't turn out so well for me, did it?**

**Rush: It seems to have made you more insufferable, that's all.**

**Firael: Oh look, the pot calling the kettle black.**

**Rush: Like you've got any right to be saying anything like that at all!**


	36. The Wrong Arm of the Law

**This chapter also marked the end of an accidental hiatus, albeit a much shorter one.**

* * *

><p>Patrick winced as he stepped out of the shower, still sore from the workout he had been given by his football coach. He slapped on some pants and a shirt before collapsing onto his bed.<p>

It didn't take long for sleep to set in.

The rock that had been left on the bedside table glowed once and vanished.

Patrick began to dream.

* * *

><p>"I reckon you could peel tomatoes if you tried hard enough," Morgan quipped. "I just don't think I know anyone silly enough to want to try. Anyway, enough messing around - you two need to tell me what's happened since I left."<p>

"Well….Rush might have died." Aron started.

"'Might have' is a huge understatement" Isrea muttered.

"What? What happened?"

"We got attacked by the same two trainers who tried to steal Isrea west of Mount Coronet. We got extremely lucky with the arrival of that vaporeon and dragonair. The two trainers knocked most of us out with one explosion and we have no idea what happened afterwards, except that we woke up the next day with burns on everyone and Rush nowhere to be found. We reckon he was the first one attacked and he got knocked out in midair before taking a very bad landing. I've got a good mind to report them to the police, but, well, they won't believe our story, not with Firael's background and all."

Isrea shook her head forlornly. "Apart from that, things went reasonably smoothly - the trainers seem to have stop chasing us. We both got badges at - WHAT IN THE WORLD?"

"Wh-where am I?" A stranger had materialised out of thin air, right in front of Aron. He looked around blankly as Isrea tripped over herself and fell while jumping away.

"Who are you?" Isrea groaned as she got back up.

"This is an odd dream."

* * *

><p>Palkia felt Celebi jerk against her foot.<p>

"Woah, what happened there, Celebi?"

The axew looked up before shrugging nonchantly. "I just felt someone messing with the fabric of time and got alarmed for a second, but it's no big deal."

Palkia scratched her head. "Err...that does sound like a big deal. How can you be so sure about this?"

"Because," Celebi grinned, "those disturbances are being caused by me - on behalf of another pokemon, of course. Well, that's not quite true. The disturbances are going to be caused by me."

"Celebi, you never cease to infuriate."

* * *

><p>"Ah...I'm…..what." Patrick managed after several seconds of silence spent staring at Aron, Morgan and Isrea's expressions, which also happened to replicate his.<p>

Morgan clamped her mouth shut before finding her voice. "You….you just appeared out of nowhere! It would be...uh...good if you would explain yourself!"

"Well, I don't know how to put this, but you're all just figments of my imagination. I'm just dreaming. You don't exist. Still, it's no reason to be alarmed." Patrick replied.

"We WHAT?! Of course I exist! We were here before you appeared, you know!" Isrea, now back on her feet, was now violently shaking Patrick.

"Well...you would say that if you were part of my imagination, wouldn't you?" He mumbled whilst he endured Isrea's shaking. Visibly shaken after getting released, he glanced up and saw Isrea's reaction after hearing his latest statement. Thinking quickly, he quickly backtracked. "However, I'm willing to act like you guys exist for now. God knows this has been one of the most interesting and vivid dreams I've had in awhile."

"Fine….sure." Aron nodded, clearly shaken (figuratively). "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself then?"

"Sure! I'm Patrick Davis and I live in the Opelucid Complex of Unova city." Patrick paused upon seeing glances being exchanged between his listeners. "What?"

"Unova City? Unova's a continent, not a city!"

Patrick shrugged. "Yeah, but seeing as Unova City covers most of the continent, we just call it Unova City. It's the same for Amica City and Sinnolia, which cover all of Amica and Sinnoh. Where are we anyway?"

Isrea was shaking her head. "We're in Veilstone City, which is in the continent of Sinnoh. We've never heard of Sinnoh getting called Sinnolia...sounds like a bad flu."

Patrick arched his eyebrows. "Really? Veilstone is a suburb, not a city - my grandmother lived there! What kind of joke is this?"

"Veilstone is a suburb, you say? And you think this is a dream?" Aron muttered, stroking his chin.

"Yes, what of it?"

"I think I might have an explanation for all this. Have you recently had any contact with a purple rock? Larger than my fist, translucent and it sometimes glows in the dark." Aron walked over to his bag and began rummaging around in it.

"I….I have." Patrick mumbled as Aron pulled a purple rock out. "Hey, that's my rock! How did it get here?"

Aron shook his head. "This is going to take a lot of explaining, but my rock is, or rather, it WAS your rock. As for your current predicament, you've just travelled back in time by just under a thousand years."

Isrea burst into laughter before she realised Aron was staring at her. "What, you mean you were serious?" Aron nodded. "Really? Where the hell did you get that rock anyway? I've never seen it!"

"It's a long story."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Morgan grumbled. "What have you been hiding from us?"

* * *

><p>Sonya's fitful dozing was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching her cell. A quick glance told her that it was simply Nikolai checking in on the two of them.<p>

"Ah, Sonya," he said, sliding two boxes of food through the letterbox opening in the door to their cell. "The higher they are, the harder they fall, don't they?" Sonya glared at him through the mesh of the cage. "I thought that raichu would have killed you by now, but it looks like you've managed to convince him not to do so."

Sonya steeled herself. "So now what? What happens to us now?" Through the fine mesh, she could see Nikolai wag his finger at her.

"You should know that we operate on a need-to-know basis and that you, my dear, do not need to know what we've got planned for you."

"Wonderful. I hope you live a happy and fulfilling life."

"Why thank you! I wish you the same! Goodbye now!"

After Nikolai left, Sonya had a look inside the boxes in the vain hope that they might have provided metal cutlery so they could attempt sawing their way out. Unfortunately, the food came with two plastic sporks, which were about as useful to her as a wet noodle. After giving the raichu in the corner a nervous glance, Sonya turned her attention to the cage she was imprisoned in. It was an extremely small space;it was only tall enough for her to sit up in and just long enough for her to lie down if she did so diagonally.

_'This cage wasn't really intended to hold a human, was it?'_

Suddenly, inspiration struck. Sonya threw her weight against the mesh in an effort to see if she could move the cage by slowly sliding it across the ground with her body weight. However, after a few attempts, she realised that the cage was welded to the floor was not going anywhere anytime soon. After dismissing that option, she turned her attention to the lock. She assumed it was keyhole lock but there was no way of telling as she couldn't reach through the mesh to feel around the lock and there were no markings on her side of the cage. The hinges on the door looked like the most sturdy part of the entire cage, and Sonya didn't pay too much attention to them. Prodding at the mesh walls, Sonya felt despair sink in like the chill on a winter's night. The mesh was so fine that she could not even get a finger through it to tug at it.

_'I wonder what it's made out of?'_ Sonya thought. '_The mesh can't be a conductor since if it was anyone touching it would just get shocked by the pokemon inside, and this looks like it was made specifically for electric pokemon. Yet….this looks like it's made of metal...oh. There's a ground running along the floor to stop electric shocks. Come on! There has to be something!' _She slapped the ground in frustration.

* * *

><p>Firael stared forlornly at the gathering of Rob's pokemon, feeling a little left out as the vaporeon, dragonair, scizor and ninjask caught up on news.<p>

_'It's not the same, is it?'_ Alexa murmured inside her.

Firael sighed._ 'Yeah, it isn't. I don't even know any of them, so it's not like I should even claim to be a part of their conversation. Still….'_

_'Ah. Still...because you all shared the same trainer?'_

_'Yes. I know it's not the same, but….I wish it was. Alexa?'_

_'Hmm…?'_

_'Do you ever wonder- ever wonder how everything would have turned out if none of this had happened? If I was still travelling with Rob and you were still training to be an athlete? I feel as though I've messed up so many things-'_

_'A strange word, 'if'. So many possibilities. In the end, what has happened has already done so, and there is no way to change it. We are all laying down wet cement, and the past has dried up, barren, hard and unchangeble. The past is set in stone, so why worry about it? We may have regrets, but I, for one, am not going to spend the rest of my life dwelling on them. However, the future...'_

_'What about the future?'_

_'Well, in the future, the word 'if' still has meaning. Endless possibilities.'_

_'Hell, since when did you become so philosophical?'_

_'I don't know what you do when I'm in control, but I get a lot of time to think, although there seems to be more a blur between transitions these days, nearly an hour long where I can't really remember what I'm doing.'_

_'So it's not just me then?'_ Firael frowned.

_'Ah, you too? No, it's not just you. It feels as though-'_

_'as though you're in control, but that someone else is mirroring your movements?'_

_'...yes. In tandem?'_ Firael felt her right paw clench.

_'In tandem.'_

* * *

><p>"Sooo….pretty much whenever you sleep with that rock nearby you get to come down and join us for a few hours! If things play out the same way, Jirachi might actually appear soon as well!" Aron finished.<p>

Patrick shook his head. "I'm finding this very difficult to swallow."

"He's not the only one, you know." Isrea said, frowning. "The whole story is so far-fetched it's not even funny."

"Well, I'm just telling it as it is! Don't shoot the messenger! He's the guy who appeared out of nowhere." Aron threw his arms up in the air.

Morgan grinned. "Doesn't mean we can't laugh at him. Still, there might be a way we can verify this. Patrick, does Sinnoh...City still have a Pokemon Champion?"

"Well, they have a Commander of the Fleet, which is the honorary title given to the leader of the Sinnoan army for the Fortroid invasion. I'm pretty sure that it used to be called the Pokemon Champion, but I'll have to check. Why do you ask?"

"Fortroi- nevermind. I assume you wouldn't know who the Pokemon Champion is currently, do you? That is, the Sinnoan Pokemon Champion a thousand years from your time."

"Err….no. I don't know that much about Sinnoh City."

"Well, go look him up. If that Pokemon Champion happens to be named Lucas, then you'll know that you weren't dreaming since you didn't actually know this information. If you're really from the future as opposed to some random guy who appeared in our room, how about you bring something we don't have? It'd be cool." Morgan winked. "Anyway, I'm of a mind to go and do a bit of sightseeing. Anyone here game? There's a good movie on tonight as well."

"Sure." Aron replied. "Patrick, you coming?"

"I guess."

* * *

><p>"Nah, I haven't warmed up yet. C'mon Isrea! I'll beat you this time!" Aron fished another token out of his pocket to pay for another round of skee ball.<p>

Isrea couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Aron, I've already beaten you three times-"

"We'll do a best of seven!"

"I'd like to play again but you're going to spend ALL your tokens on this one game. Play something else! Maybe you'll win for a change. Where are Pat and Morgan?" Isrea scanned the arcade section of the Veilstone Game Corner for their two friends.

They soon found the two deeply engrossed in a flying simulator trying to beat each other in aerial slalom races. At the end of the race, Patrick shook his head.

"Wow….the simulator is so…..unrealistic! It's not even in 3D!"

Morgan jerked a thumb at the disgruntled teenager. "He's just mad he lost to me after telling me how good he was at racing games."

Isrea chuckled. "Tell me about it. Aron here is absolutely terrible at skee ball."

"Hey! I was warming up!"

Upon catching sight of Aron, Patrick waved him over. "Aron, I just realised something odd about your explanation of the...y'know."

"Really? What?"

"Well….if Jirachi is supposed to appear in a few days, then why is the Millenium Festival 6 months away? I saw a few signs on the way here and kinda forgot to ask."

Aron nodded. "Ah, I forgot to mention that. The comet is actually slightly behind. Each time it takes nine hundred and ninety nine years and 9 months to reappear again, three months short of a Millenium. Since it was three months behind last time, this time it's behind by six months. When I was back a thousand years ago, Jirachi arranged for another comet to come in place of hers when expected so that the Millenium Festival can be celebrated, but it's not the real one. The real one is coming soon. Real soon."

* * *

><p>Patrick's eyes opened and he promptly shot up in his bed.<p>

_'Now THAT was the weirdest dream ever! Never had a dream end when I went to sleep.'_ He turned around to look at the purple rock, which had stopped pulsing.

_'Then again, I might as well check the name of that pokemon champion….wow, it's late! I'm glad it's the weekend, or I would have been in trouble.'_

A few minutes later, he had grabbed breakfast from his rehydrater and had brought up the Extranet on his tablet.

"Run word search. Sinnoh Champion Commander Fleet Lucas."

Patrick yawned as he started absentmindedly reading the search results (which had been compiled in 23.4539 milliseconds, a fact very helpfully supplied by the engine) before clicking on the first result (as he always did):

_'..._

_Neacy DeAustin - Private, 4th Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival_

_Delphi Deay - Private, 3rd Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival_

**_Lucas DeBrænker - Private, 3rd Regiment, 3rd Army - Missing in Action_**

_Slane DeBroenker - Corporal, 5th Regiment, 2nd Army - Of Injuries_

_Broome DeBroenker - Private, 4th Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival_

_Levi DeBuc - Private, 12th Regiment, 3rd Army (Field Medic) - In Captivity_

_...'_

Patrick shook his head and silently berated himself for clicking on a link he already knew was going to lead him nowhere. He was looking at a list of soldiers who had died in the recent Sinnoan conflicts with the Fortroids - something he didn't want to be looking at right now. Refining the search to only include ancient histories gave him a remarkably shorter selection from which to choose from. After some careful scanning, Patrick selected the first option once again:

_'**Lucas Plato (Pokemon Trainer)**_

_This article is about the pokemon trainer. For other people named Lucas Plato, see Lucas Plato (disambiguation)._

_Lucas Plato (full name Lucas Rowan Plato) was a Pokemon Trainer most well known for becoming the 54th Pokemon Champion of the Sinnoh Region. The Champions Almanac notes that 'Lucas broke the trend of increasingly politically and oriented Pokemon Champions, having very little to do with the running of the country; rather, he seemed averse to any exposure on media, only appearing for battles and to promote the Millenium festival. Indeed, Saer postulates that Lucas and the champions that succeeded him (upon his disappearance) hastened the transformation of the role of 'Pokemon Champion' into one that was more military in nature and the subsequent evolution of Sinnoh into a quasi military state by around 100 to 200 years by weakening the political power of the Sinnoan politicians._

_However, Kroening provides an alternate hypothesis - that the small amount of exposure that Lucas provided caused a public disinterest in the position until it was brought back into favour by Vinty Kristef some 153 years later, who was instrumental in getting the Commander's Act passed. His relatively short tenure as the Pokemon Champion (4 years, second only to the 3 days during which Bale Sanderson held the title before infamously losing it to Della Connors) is further cited as evidence by backers of Kroening's views._

_Apart from Lucas' short tenure as the Pokemon Champion, not much else can be said for his life except for the circumstances under which he disappeared….'_

"Patrick! I'm going to need you for shopping! We need to leave in 5 minutes if we're to beat the weekend rush! Get dressed and do all that other stuff you need to do before we go!" Patrick started for a moment before coming to his senses and shutting down his workstation. He then turned his attention to the hunt for clothes that hadn't already been ruined by Juka; he had been too afraid to tell his parents about his pancham's tendency to chew on anything she could get her hands on.

'_So I guess that dream was right. Wow….that's pretty cool. Lucas exists- well, he existed and actually had a role in Sinnoh's history! That's pretty cool too. Legends above, I'm really going to have to think hard over what happened last night then - I'll bring them my translator, seeing as Morgan wanted some proof I was from the future. This IS pretty cool. Pity I can't bring Juka with me._

_…_

_Or can I?'_

* * *

><p>After saying a quick goodbye to Liesel, Lucas left the hotel and set out for the nearest Landing Bay.<p>

_'It's good to be free from a constant schedule! I don't know how the other champions did it.'_

Upon reaching the Landing Bay, Lucas released his skarmory and checked his watch. _'Well, it's not as early as I would have liked, but I'll make it to Veilstone by tonight. I'll probably check the station out tomorrow then.'_

Lucas climbed onto his skarmory with practised ease and put his flying goggles on. "Alright Wyvil. We're good to go."

* * *

><p>"So you're telling me Jirachi actually does the wish thing?" Isrea asked, wide-eyed as she prodded at her food. The three of them were seated in a diner, waiting for dinner to get served. None of them wanted to admit it, but they were all waiting to see if Patrick would turn up again.<p>

"Yeah, you get a wish as the comet passes overhead. Still, I'm not sure if Jirachi's can fulfill any wish you give her - she couldn't fulfill mine." Aron shrugged.

"Wait, you got one? Oh yeah, you've already met her….what did you wish for?" Morgan asked.

"I...wished that Steven was alive again. I...I wonder when my meal is coming? Seems a bit odd that they would serve one meal way ahead of the other two. Maybe I should ask the waitress. Oh, here they co- nevermind….that's not our order. Well...I hope you two don't mind, but I need to head off to the toilet for a bit. Yeah." Aron promptly got up and left the table.

Isrea and Morgan looked at each other.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Patrick. Why're you wearing the translator to bed?" Juka climbed onto Patrick's bed and padded over to his pillow before poking the translator's earpiece.<p>

"Stop that! I just want to try something!" Patrick grabbed at the pancham, an attempt that was deftly avoided as the pokemon clambered over his face in an attempt to avoid getting caught. Eventually, Patrick's left hand closed around a limb and he triumphantly lifted Juka into the air.

"Ha! I got you!" Lowering the pancham, Patrick leaned close and whispered into Juka's ear. "Hey, how about you sleep next to me tonight, huh? I've got something I want to try."

"But your mum said not t-"

"I know, but just for tonight, okay? It'll just be like old times. Just try not to chew the bedsheets or we'll get caught."

Patrick smiled as he felt Juka snuggle into his arms.

"Night."

* * *

><p>Even though they were partially prepared for Patrick's arrival, both Isrea and Morgan jumped a little in response to Patrick's sudden appearance.<p>

"Oh, thanks for leaving food out for me, but I've already eaten!" Patrick smiled before realising that Juka had made the trip with him. "Oh, Juka, you made it! Guys, meet Juka! She's my pancham. Juka, please don't ruin any of their stuff, and please don't spaz out." Thankfully, the pancham seemed to have taken the jump in her stride.

Isrea greeted Patrick while Morgan shifted over to get a closer look at Juka. "Hey Pat! That's meant to be Aron's meal, by the way. You're in his spot." Patrick moved over as Juka came within a hairsbreadth of knocking over Morgan's drink.

"Wow, I don't think I'd ever expected to see a pancham in Sinnoh. Kalos is a long way away and pancham is a pretty rare pokemon. Here, lets take a photo together when Aron comes back!"

Upon returning from the toilet and seeing Patrick seated at their table, Aron managed to muster up a grin. "Ah, you're a back. Guess you'll be with us for the next week or so, eh?"

Patrick smiled back. "Yeah….I still can't believe that this isn't really a dream, but I found an article on Lucas...Plato, I think? Apparently he doesn't like to get seen that much."

Isrea frowned. "Yeah, you don't see him much outside of battles - the last champion was everywhere on TV, although he seems to be on board for the festival, so there's that. By the way, what's on your ear?"

Raising a hand up to touch his ear, Patrick grinned. "I thought I'd just bring this over, seeing as you had no way of communicating with your pokemon ver- ….you know, by using your voice. This is a babel decoder and it can translate any language in it's database into whatever one I want. Here!" Patrick detatched the earpiece and handed it to Morgan. "Try it out with Juka. The battery lasts for a few days, so it's really convenient since you don't have to charge it a lot. Of course, you can get more expensive ones that last longer and have a voice that is better stitched together, but this does the job just fine."

Morgan had been fumbling with the earpiece a bit, but she finally managed to get it on. "Okay, err…. Juka. Tell us something about Patrick!"

The pancham grinned devilishly. "His favourite colour is pink."

Everyone burst out laughing as Patrick's face turned a dangerous shade of red after hearing Morgan's translation. "Juka! That's not true. Nope. Definitely not. My favourite colour is not pink. No. Not pink."

"What about lilac?" Isrea added sweetly.

"What? No! Juka, you're no fun when you're like this!"

"I'm inclined to disagree. She's got a good sense of humour."

Aron waved a fork in the air. "Y'know, this is going to be pretty useful for us to get a chance to talk with our pokemon. We're going to have to try this out when we get back."

* * *

><p><em>'Mortality is a curious thing. When one is mortal, they spend their entire lives avoiding the inevitable end, the passing into Giratina's Shadow. Yet they fail to realise that what they seek is not what they want. Forever is a long time, and and with the spiralling of time things slow...and slow…..and slow. Days become years, became decades, centuries, even millennia. it is easy to grow indifferent; it requires a certain madness to stay sane when everything you have seen has been witnessed thousands and thousands of times before. I know….no, I knew a hundred people like Isrea and I've known hundred people like Aron. I've lived the same moment a thousand times, heard the same joke ten thousand times. They will be gone within a blink of an eye. When the batting of an eyelid spans a century, one cannot afford to make friends.<em>

_A dying of fires, a laying of pyres, these losses so dire, tolls rise ever higher. Sympathy's burden grows, empathy to apathy a path from attachment to detachment a catchment of dying emotions this notion a caution from agitation to vegetation…._

_And yet…_

* * *

><p>"Hey guys, we're back! We've even got a surprise for you!" Aron shouted as he burst into Morgan's room where everyone's pokemon had been left behind to lounge around.<p>

"Betcha it's gotta do wi' that there guy that appeared yesterday." Gilly gestured at Patrick, catching the attention of Alexa next to him.

"Yeah, good pick. I wonder if Vaiel has let Rush out of the bath yet."

Gilly chortled. "Fair chance it ain't happenin' till late, Firael! Rush shoulda known by now not ta mess wit that vaporeon!"

Alexa didn't even bother correcting Gilly's choice of name. "Ha! Looks like everyone who was watching has come over - did Scythe just lock the door?!"

"Guess he knew Rush and Vaiel wanted some alone time, eh?"

"One of them, sure." Alexa ignored Gilly's suggestive tone and spied Vendel approaching out of the corner of her eye. The prinplup was shaking his head.

"Vaiel got Scythe and Sasha to tie Rush's wings up, so now he's stuck in the bathtub and Vaiel's just spraying soap at him while he tries to run up the sides of the tub. He's pretty much given up now."

Aron clapped his hands. "Okay, guys. First, let me introduce Patrick. He's from Kalos and also happens to be from the future. Just under a thousand years in the future, if you want to be exact. I've got a bit of a story for you guys."

Alexa glanced at Gilly. "Ooooohhhh, boy."

* * *

><p><em>And yet….all regrets stay. Why is it we all lose the ability to feel all but the most soul-crushing of emotions? I am not a stranger to despair or grief, but why do those blades still hurt while I am denied the heady fumes of euphoria?<em>

_If we were to offer a mortal the gift immortality, would they, if denied, spend the rest of their life regretting their decision? Yet, is that not better than possessing doubts for the rest of eternity?_

_If so, does the opposite hold true? I may regret becoming mortal, but all I need to do is blink….then it all ceases to matter regardless. People say regrets are not meant to be dwelt upon, what what else is there left for me to dwell upon? There is nothing new, and I seek nothing in truth. The very essence of nothing. Oblivion._

_The cessation of feeling is a gift, not a curse. I have so many regrets.'_

* * *

><p>"...so the result of all this is that Patrick and Juka, his pancham, are going to be staying with us, on and off, for about a week or so. However, this is not the only reason why I'm telling this story. You see, Pat's been kind enough to bring us something from the future. We can't keep it, since it's his, but it's still something we can try to make the most of." Aron waved the translator at all the pokemon before putting it on. "See this? It's an...err…..what is it called again?"<p>

Patrick, who had previously been struggling with the tap, smiled and shook his head. "Wow, you don't have an amazing memory, do you? It's called a babel decoder, and it allows anyone who wears it to understand what other pokemon are saying. I'd actually forgotten to mention this, but it works for other languages as well. I use it to talk to my pancham all the time. Um...Hey, Isrea, how do you get water out of the dispenser? I've tried tapping the knobs and waving under the tube-thingy."

"That's called a tap. See the knobby things? You twist them- no! Not that one, that's hot water! The other one. The other way. Don't you have taps any more?"

"It's all motion activated. Tap? What an odd name. Why is it named after a noise?"

"I don't know. Hey, does the translator have the ability to connect to a speaker? It'd be a lot less cumbersome to use, what with there being four of us."

Patrick shook his head. "With what? Our cables aren't the same as yours."

"Can it broadcast a radio signal?" Morgan asked. "If it can we might be able to get it on a frequency that the hotel's radio clock can receive and play."

Firael (Alexa had decided that it was a good time to let her take over) had managed to find Sonata and Steven while the humans were working on getting the translator to work with a speaker.

"Hey Sonata, do you still have that voice recording?" Firael asked the chatot.

"Yeah, I do. You think we should tell Aron about your past?" Sonata replied.

"It's a good idea. I reckon you should keep my err….past relationship with Aron quiet until we've sorted out yours. I don't think he's likely to react well to both of us revealing that we used to be hum- sorry Firael - partially human."

"Yeah….okay. What about Rob's relationship with not just me, but Vaiel, Drats, Scythe and Zask? Hell, his whole team is here except for Rai. What are the chances of that happening, you reckon?"

Sonata's eyes widened. "Wow, I've never thought of that. Then again, apart from you, his team did arrive in pairs."

Firael shrugged. "Anyway, I think we should tell him about Rob's involvement in all this. He ties into the fiasco that my….situation has caused and I'm worried as to where he is, considering that he hasn't appeared since Eterna City. At the very least, Aron'll have a name to report as a missing person and he'll know a little more about Vaiel and Drats. Steven, go find Vaiel and tell her what I'm planning to do. I'll tell everyone else to get the go-ahead. Sonata, can you help round everyone up?"

"What about Rush?" Steven asked as he headed off.

Firael rolled her eyes. "What about him?"

After a few minutes of fiddling around with the radio on Morgan's alarm clock, Patrick and Morgan managed to get the transmitter on a receivable frequency.

"Right, let's turn this up!" Morgan slowly slid the volume dial up. The hubbub in the room died down as all the pokemon slowly realised that the translator was working."

"...Yeah, Vaiel said that she was cool with ev….woah, that's weird. That's some cool tech." Aron had to stifle a laugh upon seeing Scout's reaction at hearing himself on the radio.

Isrea started speaking first, dumping herself on the bed next to Sacha and Adele, one hand absently stroking Morgan's ninetales. "Ha! You know, now that I actually have a chance to talk to you guys, I have no idea what I want to ask."

"Well, that's probably for the best, since we've got some pretty worrying information on the trainers chasing me and the trainer with the Raichu that helped save me from getting taken."

Patrick looked nervously between the charmeleon and Aron. "Wait, you're being chased? You never mentioned that!"

"Well, we haven't seen them in a few weeks, so the whole issue had kind of slipped our minds. However, the last time we met, they nearly wiped all of us out and Rush came scarily close to dying. We have considered filing a report to the police, but it's not a very believable story." Aron said.

Isrea continued. "Yeah, you see, Firael was the result of some experiment that tried to combine human and pokemon minds together. For all intents and purposes, it worked….I think?"

"Yeah, it did." Firael sighed.

"Well...um. Anyway. We also know that the trainers that are after us are from Team Rocket and Team Galactic because Morgan's chatot managed to record a conversation between them with his chatter ability. We don't know why they want Firael though, seeing as they could just conduct another experiment to get another hybrid."

Morgan took the cue. "The problem is that the police won't believe what we say about Firael since the very concept of a hybrid is sci-fi material. They won't buy the Team Rocket or Team Galactic story because they've both legitimised their businesses….or everyone thinks they have. Hell, Galactic have their headquarters in this city and nobody bats an eyelid! We don't know if this Team Galactic are even directly connected to Galactic Corporation or whether they're some renegade leftover offshoot. What else can we say? Some thieves really want our charmeleon? Doesn't sound very convincing at all. Then there was that guy with the Raichu…"

"Rob. His name is Rob." Scythe's rumble caught everyone off guard; nobody had really expected him to say anything.

Firael decided to take over. "Yeah. Rob's actually got a lot to do with us. I used to be his trainer before Kova, one of the guys chasing us, took me from him. Drats and Vaiel used to be on his team before they left, and you already know that Scythe and Zask used to belong to him. I can't believe he tracked me down before that fight with Kova…."

Aron nodded. "We should try and track him down - see how he's doing after losing that battle. I don't know if all of you want to return, but I feel that we should at least try and find him now that we know his name - wait….what's his full name?"

"Robert Palmer. It would be good to meet again." Scythe grunted.

"Right, I'll go downstairs and ask the Nurse to run a database search on the last few places he used his trainer card." Aron got up and headed out the door.

Patrick snapped his fingers. "I just find the whole thing appaling! Surely there's someone you can tell about the experiments? Illegal hybrids are pretty common where….when I'm from. The technology is banned except for military use, but they're constantly uncovering underground labs of hybrids like Firael and others that are physically a combination. If you're caught running a lab it's a death sentence. Most people don't even get a trial. There are rehab facilities that try to help split the hybrids back up, and I guess I could take Firael and Alexa back with me if she wanted to. The only problem with that is that the process takes a few months, so she wouldn't be able to come back. Why can't we just go the police with the translator? Surely they'd listen to us then!"

Adele shook her head and yawned, baring her fangs to everyone. "You show them the translator and they'll be asking so many questions about the translator that we'd all die of old age before we got to our actual story."

"It's just so stupid!" Patrick stood up and started pacing the room. "Think of all the other people and pokemon that could be getting experimented on right now! We just can't sit here and do nothing! If I'd reported a hybrid facility in my time the police would have acted immediately!"

"It's not that simple, Pat. Our story would have been believable in a thousand years, but right now, nobody is going to believe us. Trust me when I say I really want to do something, but we need more information!"

There were a few moments of awkward silence before everyone was alerted by a scrabbling at the bathroom door. Patrick, being the closest, walked over and opened it. He was greeted with the sight of a foamy staravia stumbling out, trailing suds and bits of shredded string along the floor.

"What in the world?" Patrick exclaimed.

"Bloody killjoys, the lot of you...can't take a joke. No sense of humor…." Rush trailed off as he realised everyone was staring at him in disbelief. He gave himself a cursory look and shuddered before nonchantly pointing a wing at the bathroom door. "Y'know...I'm just going to head bad inside and clean m'self up. Yep."

Patrick blinked. Then he blinked again. "That was….unexpected. Still, my point stands...just think of all the poor people or pokemon that are being experimented on! It's just….I feel so helpless. It could be anyone, you know. One of us could have just as easily been in Firael's position, or someone that we knew well."

Patrick's musings were interrupted when Aron bust into the room, eyes wide.

"Rob's missing! He hasn't checked in anywhere since we last saw him!"

Isrea raised a hand to her mouth. "Oh no. He lost that battle, didn't he? Sonata didn't find his body..."

Nobody wanted to acknowledge that possibility. Sonata activated her chatter ability to play a small snippet of audio.

_'Just call me Kova. We've knocked out a trainer who also has been searching for the charmeleon that the two of us are looking for. I know him to be her previous owner, and personally, I think that he needs to be removed somehow. I had found her, but due to his meddling, she has gotten away again.'_

Aron shook herself. "When you last played that, I'd just assumed they were going to beat him up, but I guess it was a lot more serious than all of us thought."

There were a few tense moments of silence.

"The least we could do is file a missing persons report." Morgan finally said.

* * *

><p>After saying goodbye to Patrick - who had retired to Morgan's bedroom to go to sleep and return to his time (taking Juka and the translator with him) - Aron, Isrea and Morgan set out for Veilstone police station. Revelling in the crisp, fresh air, Rush, Scout and Sonata had all left to make the most of the night and enjoy a bit of a break from the rather claustrophobic feelings that roofs gave them. Meanwhile, Morgan recalled Adele and Rynka, as neither the ninetales nor the bellossom enjoyed nights too much.<p>

"Do you reckon the police station will still be open?" Aron asked.

"Veilstone's a big enough city that the main branch stays open at all hours of the night. Of course, there'd be less police officers there compared to the daytime, but that's only to be expected. Still, you only need one person to file a missing person's report." Morgan replied.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, the three came to a stop at the police station. It was one of the taller buildings in the city, but it was still dwarfed by the imposing and recently renamed Galatica Building, it's spires clearing a large starless wedge in the sky above their heads. Morgan waved Aron and Isrea on. "You two go on ahead; I'll wait outside for the birds to come back. They shouldn't be too long."

"Sure. Drats, I'm afraid you'll have to go back in your ball - you're too long and they'd just ask me to recall you anyway." Aron replied while holding a pokeball out for Drats, who duly slithered up and tapped the ball with her nose.

* * *

><p>"Argh, long flights always leave me stiff!" Lucas groaned as he slid off Wyvil's back and recalled his skarmory.<p>

"I don't know why you don't just transform into a bird pokemon and do the flying yourself then. I do the best I can; it's not my fault you humans seem to dislike any sort of discomfort at all." Wyvil replied, mostly in jest.

Lucas grinned. "You know as well as I do that I need to be seen riding pokemon, if only so people won't start asking questions. Look, one day, I promise. I'll fly with you across Sinnoh. Deal?"

_'The police station's near the Galactica building, isn't it? Huh, fitting. Well, it looks to be pretty close - huh, might just head over to make sure I know where it is. I need the walk.'_

The steel bird ruffled her feathers, making a very soft screeching sound. "I'll hold you to that promise, Lucas."

* * *

><p>Aron and Isrea both entered the automatic glass doors into the reception area of the station. The décor was relatively spartan, with dark blue carpet forming a stark contrast with the cream white plaster walls, where three unmarked doors were situated on all the other walls of the reception area. The room was furnished with a few chairs, a coffee table, and a water cooler with a portrait of a houndoom above it. Opposite the door was the receptionist's desk, behind which sat a middle aged man with pepper streaked hair. He was sleeping. Above him, a plaque with his picture on it read 'Employee of the Month'.<p>

Uncertain of how to continue, Aron and Isrea quietly approached the desk before rapping on the desk with her knuckles. With a grunt, the man woke up and peered at them through bleary eyes. "Ahrreer….Oh. Sorry about that. Welcome to Veilstone City Police Center! What can the VCPD do for you?

"We'd like to file a missing person's report."

"Ah." The receptionist rubbed his hands and put on a pair of glasses. "Ok. Who would be the name of the missing person?"

"Robert Palmer."

"Oooookkaaaayyy…." The man muttered as he typed the name into the computer on his desk. "That's 'Palmer' with one 'l', is that right?

"Yeah."

"Riooooght. Yep, got his profile. Where and when was he last seen?"

"Oh, we last saw him just outside Eter-" Aron stopped talking as the receptionist's phone began ringing.

"Sorry about that. Just a minute." The man said as he picked up the phone while absentmindedly tapping away at his keyboard. "Yes, yes, Oh. Yes, two. Yep. Two minutes? Sure, I'll be right there." The receptionist hung up before smiling at Aron and Isrea. "Right, I'll go and start processing your report. Could you please take a seat? If it doesn't inconvenience you, could you also recall your pokemon? It's not necessary, but I don't particularly want to tidy the place up too much at the end of my shift, you know? I'll be a few minutes - we can continue after I come back." With that, the man promptly left, leaving Aron and Isrea staring at each other in bafflement.

"Weird. Wonder what was so urgent at this time of night that took him away?" Isrea said

Aron shrugged and stomped over towards the chairs before slumping into one. "He's probably the only person left in this place. Cut him a little slack, won't you?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just worried about Rob, that's all." Isrea followed suit after grabbing a cup of water.

The next minute passed in relative silence as the two trainers recalled all of their pokemon (as per the receptionist's wishes) before settling down. After a while, Aron was snapped out of his daze by a muffled pounding. After looking around for the source of the noise, Aron realised that Morgan was pounding on the glass doors, which had stopped operating.

"Hey, Isrea, looks like the door's gone buggy." He walked over to let her in using the manual override button, but nothing happened.

The lights turned out just as Aron heard twin clicks that signified the two side doors opening.

"Uh oh."

* * *

><p><strong>Also, why is it ninetales instead of ninetails? I'm pretty sure I've complained about this before but I did it again. :(<strong>

**Ramenknight: I'm not sure if you'll ever see this, but if so, thanks for that long review! You've brought up some very good points for me to think about.**

**ValeforXD: Haha, I managed to surprise you again! Never overunderestimate my ability to do things...eventally.**

* * *

><p><strong>Rush: Wow, for once the Author's notes were actually short.<strong>

**Steven: Yeah, good point! What's happened here?**

**Firael: It's almost like this chapter was finished at 3am and he just wanted to publish and go to sleep.**

**Rush: Nah, don't kid yourself! Tanon loves a long ramble, even if it means typing for an extra hour.**

**Steven: Maybe one of his hands fell off.**


	37. Nasty Plot

**DISCLAIMER: There might be some stuff in this chapter that might make physics majors (especially those in electrical engineering) tear their hair out. I'm pretty sure it makes sense, but I'm probably never going to touch another electrical course at uni with a ten-foot pole ever again. God, I hate electric engineering. That and I suck at it.**

* * *

><p>"Aron! Isrea!" Morgan yelled, banging her fist on the glass door as the lights went out. Stepping back, she started letting out her pokemon. A short burst of fire from Drats briefly illuminated the scene inside. There were at least 5 policemen and policewomen who were trying to hold Aron and Isrea down while Sasha and Drats got swarmed by multiple houndoom.<p>

_'I….I can't do anything against that….I'm just a photographer, for crying out loud!'_

Backing away from the muffled shouts coming from behind the door, Morgan turned around and ran.

* * *

><p>Aron and Isrea had been quick to react, all things given. However, they could only release one pokemon each before they were restrained. Likewise, their surprised pokemon stood no chance against multiple houndoom fighting them in the dark. Isrea had only just registered Aron seizing up beside her before she was hit with a tremendous electrical shock. The hand covering her mouth muffled her scream as fire raced up her muscles for a split second, seemingly tearing her apart-<p>

* * *

><p>If Arceus could have done so, he would have blanched.<p>

_**'That was not good. I need to talk to Lucas about this.'**_

* * *

><p>Of all the emotions that Lucas was expecting to psychically sense while walking towards the police station, one of them was not panic. His psychic senses soon pinpointed the source of the emotion and he was surprised to see it travelling rather quickly away from the police station.<p>

_'Odd. What is going on over there?'_ Lucas picked up his pace.

* * *

><p>Since reporting their failure to capture Firael to Saturn, Rynade and Kova had been told to stay put while Saturn re-evaluated their options. Suddenly, Rynade was distracted from that day's episode of <em>Antique's Roadshow<em> by a phonecall.

"Hello?"

"It's Saturn. We have acquired the chameleon that you have been looking for. Stay put for now; I'll probably get someone to send the charmeleon to you so that Kova can take her back to him."

'Thank god….' Rynade thought, the Rocket trainer had only gotten more surly as weeks went by without any communication from their superiors.

"Yes Sir."

"Very well, I shall speak with you soon. Goodbye." With that, Saturn hung up.

"Yo, Kova! You can tell Giovanni we got your charmeleon! Someone should be coming over with her sometime this week." Rynade yelled out.

Kova's response was unintelligible.

* * *

><p>Morgan nearly ran into a trainer as he rounded the corner. Luckily for her, he seemed to expect her and had already moved to the side to avoid a potential collision.<p>

"Hey, stop! What's going on?" He asked, holding out both his hands to get the message across as he slowly walked towards her.

Completely flustered, Morgan slid to a stop and turned round to face him. "M-My friends! They went to the police to report a missing person and the police attacked them! I saw it! I saw everything!" As the other trainer came closer, Morgan's eyes widened as she recognised who she was talking to. "Oh...oh. You're Lucas, aren't you? Please help me! They didn't do anything wrong!"

Lucas frowned. "Well...yes. I'm Lucas, but I'm not sure how much I can do. This is related to Galactic, isn't it? By the way, I'm afraid you know my name and…."

Morgan was speechless. "How did you know Galactic?" Remembering her manners, she added. "My name's Morgan, by the way."

"Anonymous tip. Well, Morgan, we can walk past the station, but if they're any good your friends will be nowhere to be seen - especially if they have ties with Galactic, which is looking increasingly likely. If that's the case, my hands are tied for now."

"Why? You're the champion! Can't you just go in and...you know…." Morgan violently gestured at the air.

Lucas' expression was forlorn. "Not quite. What would it look like if the Pokemon Champion suddenly attacked a police station? Firstly, it sets a terrible example. Secondly, I give away the fact that I am suspicious of them; it's easier to chase quarry that don't know you're hunting them. Finally, I have no idea what I'll be walking into - I'm not indestructible, you know. Before you ask, I can't attack Galactic's building either, since I need a warrant for that and I don't think the police are going to give me one, considering their present….allegiances. I'm still bound by most of the same laws that you are, you know. However, it seems like the tip was a legitimate one. It'll take some time, but I'll have to talk to the Elite four to see if we can get an idea of how bad this corruption is and whether it's only this particular branch that can't be trusted." He pulled a pen out of his bag and a scrap of paper out of his pocket.

"Here, this is my pokeGear number. I'll keep you updated with the situation. I'm sorry, but it's all I can do at the moment."

Morgan took the paper from Lucas, shaking her head. "I don't know if you'll be quick enough, but I guess it's better than nothing. Please try to get my friends back as quickly as possible! I don't know what to do..."

Lucas tapped his head before backing off, intending to go straight to his hotel room and send some messages to the Elite four before nodding off. "Sure thing. Liesel is going to be extremely annoyed though. Call me tomorrow if you have any more information, ok? Hey. Err...Morgan?"

Morgan had gone deathly pale.

"Morgan? What's wrong?"

"...Morgan?"

After what seemed an eternity for Lucas, Morgan spoke.

"Jirachi. They...they have Jirachi."

_'My day just got a lot worse.'_ Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Jirachi? What on earth were your friends doing with-? Look, nevermind. You better come with me; we aren't talking with the Elite Four anymore."

_'Oh man...muk just hit the fan.'_

* * *

><p>"Patrick!"<p>

_'Whuuuh...'_ Patrick slowly woke up to find his mother angrily staring him down from the side of his bed. He hadn't expected to fall asleep so quickly, but he quickly realised that it had been very easy for him to simply nod off whenever he wanted to when he was last with Aron and Isrea.

_'I guess I can fall asleep easier because when I fall asleep there I'm actually waking up here, and waking up is easier than falling asleep….woah, that's deep.'_

"Mornin'. What?" Patrick mumbled.

Then he looked down at Juka, cuddled in his arms.

Then back at his mother.

"Oh."

_'My ears are gonna get chewed off for this, aren't they?'_

* * *

><p>Lucas and Morgan had returned to the hotel that Lucas had booked a room at and were currently standing in an elevator as Morgan fully explained her plight to Lucas while the latter listened intently.<p>

"Wow, I can't believe Galactic managed to sneak so much under our noses. They've been working with Team Rocket this whole time?" Lucas shook his head as the elevator doors opened. "You first."

"Thanks." Morgan stepped through the threshold onto some thick red and gold carpet and looked around. The corridor had several furnishings along the walls, including gilt-edged portraits and mirrors framed in gold filligree, all set against red and gold streaked wallpaper to match the carpet. "Wow, this place is pretty flash. Sure beats our pokecenter rooms. All this glass and shiny stuff everywhere."

Lucas grinned as the padded along the corridor, passing several other rooms on the way. "Perks of being a champion. That being said, we had conducted several investigations to make sure that Galactic were not participating in any criminal activity of any sort, and they all came back clean. I don't know how they managed to hide their partnership with Team Rocket from us." Suddenly, he paused for a short moment and shook his head, chuckling. "Oh dear...we got the police to conduct the investigations into Galactic. Well. On an unrelated note, I'd like to meet this Sonya person one day though. She sounds like she's been through a lot."

Morgan shrugged. "I've never actually met her myself. I met Aron and Isrea after they'd talked with Sonya. Wonder where she is."

Lucas stopped at this last door and pressed his trainer ID against the card reader on the door. "Still, we've got a huge mess to sort out….At least Galactic don't know they've got Jirachi for a few more days." Lucas pushed open the door whilst looking at Morgan.

"Yeah, that's something, I gue- What, or who is that?" Morgan's jaw dropped. Lucas followed his gaze and saw-

"Hmm? Oh. Hi Arceus."

_**"Good evening, Lucas. I'm afraid I have some grave news about Jirachi."**_

Lucas tersely nodded as he dragged a slightly stunned Morgan into the room before shutting the door. "Yeah, I've just found out. Morgan, meet Arceus. Arceus, Morgan. Morgan had been travelling with the trainers who had Jirachi's rock before they got...arrested."

_**"Yes, that was unfortunate. However, it is good that you know of the situation. The question of what we are going to do with it, however, still remains."**_

"I assume we're going to go after her seeing as we don't want to give Galactic any wishes."

**_"We are thinking along the same lines then. I suspect we will need some extra firepower. Do you have anyone you can recommend?"_**

Lucas thought for a moment. "Hmm….hey, why not Sean? He also has Palkia and Celebi tagging along with him, and they'll be handy in a pinch."

_**"Yes, I remember Sean. I will fetch him tomorrow. I think I will also collect Myu as well; I think it might be better if you two swapped back for the duration of this conflict. However, I do not think that any direct action by any legendaries is a good idea. I do not want Galactic to find themselves in the possession of more than one legendary, as one is already too much."**_

"Well...I'd still recommend Sean. He looked like a powerful battler when I last met him-"

**_"He is. He got his last badge some weeks ago. Volkner was extremely pleased to meet him."_**

"Ha! Volkner's pleased to meet anyone these days, he gets so little traffic. I'm sure he'll be happy to help, and it helps that he's already met you and I, of course. Look, it's pretty late. We'll talk more in the morning."

**_"Very well."_**

"I need to wake up." Morgan weakly said.

* * *

><p>Patrick's mother sighed. "Look, I know you love Juka, and I understand that, but you simply cannot have her in the bed because she keeps chewing holes in the sheets! Maybe when you're older and get a part-time job-"<p>

"I want to join the army when I'm old enough, you know that!" Patrick angrily retorted.

His mother's face softened. 'Well….well, if you were to change your mind, you can sleep with Juka if you buy your own sheets, but we were actually buying a new set of bedsheets once every fortnight before we figured out what was causing the holes….I know we aren't poor, Patrick, but we can't just waste money like that."

Patrick dipped his head in shame. "Yes, mother."

"Look, I'll let you off this time - it's been a few years, but please don't do it again, ok? If you do I might have to force Juka to sleep outside your room, and I don't want to do that."

"Yes, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Promise."

* * *

><p>"Wake up, lovebirds! Brekky's here. Hey, Sonya, if it makes you feel any better, you'll be getting a….'special' visitor in a bit. I'm sure you'll get along just fine!" Sonya was stirred from her dreams by the flap on her cage getting pushed open as two packages of food fell through. As the two Galactic grunts who delivered the food walked off, Sonya glared at them.<p>

Without further ado, the two grunts left the room and the door slid shut with a hiss. Sighing, Sonya started unwrapping her package while nudging the other one towards the sleeping raichu. Things had started to settle down over the past day or so, with both Sonya and the raichi to pass the time in a state of lassitude. '_I'm going to go mad if this continues for too much longer...I only get to go out whenever I need to go to the toilet - at least they spared me that privilege.'_

She eyed the little red button on the roof of her cage. Pressing it simply called two grunts over so they could escort her to the bathroom. She had already considered escape through that option, but she was guarded so fiercely that it was a lost cause. _'Back and forth, back and forth….hey!'_

Suddenly, she perked up. Maybe there was a method, but it would have to wake until Rai woke up; she didn't want to risk the tenuous relationship that she currently shared with the raichu.

* * *

><p>"Wake up, lovebirds! Brekky's here!"<p>

Aron stirred and then immediately regretted doing so. Every inch of his body hurt and his muscles felt like they were made out of hot water. The rational part of his mind reminded him that muscles were indeed mostly made out of water. Aron told the rational part of his mind to go stuff it where the sun didn't shine.

_'Where am I?'_

He felt two thumps near him as two plastic-wrapped packages dropped to the floor. To his side, Isrea moaned as she started coming to.

_'I don't remember coming here...all I remember was….'_ Aron grunted as he struggled into a seated position and got a good chance to have a look around. He was inside a cage that looked like it was made for holding large pokemon. It was a lot taller than he was and it was large for both him and Isrea to lie down toe-to-toe. The lock looked to be a pretty hefty piece of metal, although Aron doubted it was easily crackable. Outside the cage were another two cages of a similar size, both of which were empty. Apart from that, the room that they were in held nothing else but a small camera positioned in front of the door, which also had no handle on the inside; it seemed to be activated by a keycard.

Still trying to remember the events of last night, Aron set to looking inside the brown food packages. He found some bread, crackers, jam, fruit, some cheese and a packet of fruit juice. Putting aside the food for a moment, he stretched out the packaging to read the small writing printed on it.

_"Galactic ratpak bfast1 (Cold)"_

Suddenly, the events of the past night came back to him.

_'Oh, no. We got beaten up by the police and now we're with Team Galactic? Are the police working with Galactic?'_

"Hnnnnnuh…." Aron was snapped out of his reverie as Isrea slowly opened her eyes before quickly shutting them again. "What happened?"

Aron could only shake his head in despair. "We're in a lot of trouble."

Just then, the door to their room slid open with a pneumatic hiss and an old man stumped in, carrying a small remote. He had a long white coat thrown over the top of a dress shirt with a bright red tie on it.

"Good morning. My name is Nikolai, and we shall be seeing a lot of each other over the next few days. Here," He threw the remote into Aron's cage. Press this if you need to go to the bathroom and we'll escort you there. You don't want to abuse this, okay? Have a nice morning." He made to leave.

"Wait!" Aron cried out. Nikolai stopped and slowly turned around.

"Yes?"

"Why...why did you lock us up? We haven't done anything!"

Nikolai smirked. "But that doesn't matter! You know too much!"

"What? We only wanted to report someone who we haven't seen in a while!"

"We might have let you go if that was all, but we've been trying to find Firael for a while."

Upon hearing Nikolai's response, Aron paled.

"You see, we noticed that you stopped using your trainer ID at pokemon centres. This meant that you knew we were chasing you and that you suspected who was chasing you. This, compounded with the fact that you seem to know Rob reasonably well means that you were too dangerous to leave out in the public. Galactic hasn't managed to keep it's shadier dealings secret without having to arrange a few disappearances. By the way, who was that charming young woman outside the police station when you came to report Rob's missing status?"

Aron had instantly resolved to stay silent, but Isrea was a faster thinker. "Who?"

Nikolai raised an eyebrow. "We caught her on camera hammering on the door when we caught you. We were about to go after her but," he winced. "...extenuating circumstances intervened with that process."

Isrea's reply was deadpan. "One would assume that you would panic if you saw the police suddenly shut down a station and attack two relatively defenceless trainers. I would have done the same. We don't know who you're talking about, although I'm happy for her."

When Nikolai replied, there was a hint of steel in his voice. "Oh, so you're sure you don't know her? We do have footage of you walking up to the station together, you know. Still, if you refuse to coorporate, it will only turn out worse for you. Goodbye." With that, he brushed out of the room and the door slid shut, leaving Isrea and Aron alone save for the ever-watching glint of the camera lens.

"Good riddance." Isrea whispered. "At least Morgan's okay. I hope she can get to someone before that man is finished with us. I'd hate to think of what he's got planned."

Aron had already figured that part out. "Unless something amazing happnes, it looks like Firael won't be as unique as she was before...It's over."

* * *

><p><em>'It's been a long day...I hate mondays. Whole day's been a bloody nightmare what with Juka getting caught and that extra homework AND Steve getting mad at us during training...'<em> Patrick thought as he got back home late. Training had been brutal as always, and there was nothing Patrick wanted more than a long hot shower, dinner and a warm and welcoming bed.

_'Well….I guess my day isn't over when I go to sleep, huh. Pity I can't take Juka with me any more.'_

* * *

><p>In his room, Lucas clapped his hands as Morgan finished the last of their breakfast. Lucas had ordered room service so they could get more privacy as they discussed their plans. "So, we're going to just run in and try getting Jirachi out then? Can't we at least try doing it with one legendary? It'll make the fighting a lot easier."<p>

_**"I will now contact Sean and ask him to come over. I will then teleport to Iron Island and retrieve Myu. As I have said last night, I am not willing to risk any more legendaries in this endeavour. However, if Myu wishes to join in then she may do so; she is the only pokemon I have little to no say over. Farewell."**_

With that, Arceus vanished. Morgan downed the last of her juice before speaking. "Huh. You'd think we'd have more of a plan before Arceus goes and calls in the calvary."

Lucas chuckled. "I guess Arceus just wants to get as many people working on the problem as possible. There are going to be a few hurdles."

"You bet. How do we get in? Galactica Veilstone Building is extremely well guarded. Where do we go? I don't think any of us knows where to go. When do we attack?" Morgan set down her cup and stood up. "The doors will be open during the day, but there'll be less people around at night. What do we do if someone gets caught? We're going to have to do a lot of thinking. What about Aron and Isrea?"

"Yeah, I know. This is not going to be easy. As for your two friends, I'm afraid that their safety isn't a priority at the moment. I know it sounds harsh, but it's going to be nigh impossible to find and get both them and Jirachi out of Galactica."

* * *

><p>As soon as the raichu woke up, Sonya (very carefully) pitched her idea for escape.<p>

"Hey...errr….Rob? Rai? I've got an idea and it might get us out, but it'll need you to do all of the work." She recieved a glare for her efforts. Swallowing her fear, Sonya pressed on. "First, I have to ask, when you shoot out an electric attack, can you control it's direction? What I mean, can you make electricity flow into you as well as out of you?"

The raichu looked at her as if she had gone crazy for a few moments before nodding.

"Well…can you change between absorbing electricity and shooting it out really quickly?"

Another tentative nod. Sonya allowed herself to feel a small smidgen of hope.

"Well, can you try doing that at the cage? If you keep changing the direction of a current you put through the cage, you should be able to heat it up. If we get it hot enough we can kick or iron tail our way out through the mesh. It might not work, but any idea's worth a shot, you know?"

The raichu looked dubious, but he walked over to a wall and started preparing himself. After a minute, he brought his face close to the mesh and sparks began to fly. Sonya waited with baited breath.

'Please work….'

After a minute of charging, Rai staggered back and toppled onto the ground, gasping for breath. Sonya moved a hand close to where Rai had been standing and was elated to feel heat radiating out from the mesh. However, after several forceful kicks at the mesh, she realised it wasn't enough. She placed a hand on Rai's heaving flank.

"It wasn't enough. You did good, but the wires conducted electricity too well…there wasn't enough resistance. I'm so sorry…"

Several minutes later, the door glided open and Nikolai walked in with a pokeball in one hand. Sonya cried out in frustration.

"What now? Can't you just leave me alone? Also, didn't you wear that silly tie yesterday as well?"

Nikolai leered at her, before brandishing the pokeball. "I would, but I've found another pokemon that would simply _kill_ to meet you. Here, say hello to Firael. I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on."

The bottom dropped out of Sonya's stomach. 'Firael? Oh, please no….'

Nikolai cheerfully walked up to her cage, pressed the ball against the wall, ('_Thank god it's cooled back down,'_ Sonya thought) and let a charmeleon out.

"Have a nice day! I'll see you tomorrow...if you can make it, that is."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Palkia. Arceus wants a word with all of us." Celebi tugged at Palkia's trousers.<p>

"Huh?" Palkia asked, tearing her eyes away from a row of delicious smelling kebabs lying on a reed mat. The street vendor behind the kebabs didn't bat an eye and instantly started trying to sell a kebab to someone else.

"Sharon, did you say something?" Sean asked, looking at her.

"Err….no, but Celebi did. What did'cha say?"

Celebi sighed. "Arceus wants a word with all of us in private."

"Oh." Palkia turned around and pulled Sean along with her. Some shouting started up behind them, and Sean could pick up phases like 'personal space' and 'always kebabs'. "We need to go back to our place at the hotel. Someone wants to talk to us."

"Uh...ok."

* * *

><p><em>'Where am I? This isn't Aron's room.'<em>

When Patrick opened his eyes, he thought they were malfunctioning as he couldn't see anything. Slowly, he started inching along with outstretched arms, trying to find his bearings. After several steps, his hands touched a metallic wall. He then worked along the wall, looking for a light switch or a door. His hands found a doorknob first and he instantly turned it.

_'Arrgh, that's bright!'_

Blinding light poured in and Patrick reflexively shut the door, blanketing the room in darkness once again.

_'Ok, slowly this time….'_

Patrick reached for the handle once more and opened the door a crack, letting a small silver of light into the room. Once this was done, he scanned around in the murky shadows for a light switch. It didn't take long for him to find and turn it on.

He seemed to be in a small storeroom, about 10 steps across and 30 steps deep. The room was filled with 5 rows of pigeon-hole cabinets, all filled with various bits and pieces of training paraphernalia.

_'This is an odd place.' _Patrick mused_. 'I wonder where Aron and Isrea are.'_

A bag suddenly started shaking and fell to the floor. Wondering why it fell down, Patrick moved to investigate. Upon reaching the bag, he realised it was Aron's bag.

_'Oh, they must be round here somewhere. Maybe this is where you leave your bags before you visit a museum or a hologramphic stadium.'_

"Help!" Said the bag, as bags are sometimes wont to do. Patrick obeyed all the generally accepted laws of common sense and unzipped the bag.

He did not expect anything to come flying out of the bag, whack him on the chin, before profusely apologising for doing so then thanking him for letting her out of the bag. As a result, when all of this happened, Patrick was suitably surprised. And sore.

* * *

><p>Alexa looked around as soon as she was let out, trying to figure out where she was. She first saw a human whom she instantly recognised as Sonya cowering up against the other side of the cage….<p>

_'Cage? I'm in a cage? What in the world is Sonya doing in here with me? Wasn't she in Unova?'_

Then her eyes fell upon the raichu lying on the ground. Alexa felt Firael's growing presence in her mind.

_'Is...Is that Rai?'_

Alexa didn't say anything as she let Firael take over.

Firael ran over to the raichu. "Rai?"

The raichu lifted his head and blearily stared at her. "Firael? Is that you? Is that really you?"

Firael didn't say anything in response and just hugged him, burying her head in the raichu's fur.

"Oh, it's been so long! You're a raichu now!"

Rai laughed and playfully batted her away with a paw. "And you're still a charmander? We've both gotten older and we've both been through a lot….especially Rob." Suddenly, the raichu didn't look so happy.

Firael's eyes widened. "Rob? Where is he?"

Rai shook his head. "We know what they did with you, you and that human you're with."

A sense of absolute dread descended upon Firael. She could already guess what had happened, but she had to ask, if only so that she could cling onto the hope that the inevitable had yet to happen. "...and?"

"He's here, Firael. They did the same thing with us."

Firael slowly felt her world fall apart. "No! They can't have done this to you! It's…" For the first time in her life, words failed her.

_'Alexa, please take over. I need some time to myself.'_

_'Sure. Just remember that I'm still for you as well.'_

_'I know, and I really appreciate it, but this time...'_

_'Yeah, I understand. Just don't get too worked up.'_

Alexa smoothly completed the transition and clamped her mouth shut. "Sorry, Firael's a bit emotional right now. She'd been looking forward to meeting back up with you ever since we last ran into him...err...you. I guess it was a bit too much for her. I'm Alexa, by the way."

Rai's ears perked up. "Ah, so you're the human they...y'know? To be honest, I'm not sure if Firael is going to like what Rob has become...losing her really shook him up once things started falling apart for him and now he's lost everything. His pokemon, his possessions and his humanity. Then again, I'm sure the same happened to you."

"I'm not sure what is going on here." Alexa heard Sonya mutter. She pointed at her before looking back at Rai.

"Do you know who she is? She was the one responsible for our merge, but somehow I don't think that's the case here."

"No," Rai waved the question away with a paw. "She got dragged over from Unova where she was hiding out and forced into building another machine against her will, one which was eventually used on us. She tried to sneak us out by faking the transfer, but Nikolai and Saturn somehow caught on, so we're stuck here together. As you can expect, Rob hates her guts after what she'd done to you and us. Personally? I'm not a big fan either, although at least she's trying to fix things. The situation here's turned into a bit of a stalemate. Rob still wants her dead, but I'm not letting him do so."

"Hm. She met Aron, you know, the kid who found us after we got let out of the Team Rocket facility. She met him when he went on a holiday to Unova before setting out on his journey. Gave him a serum that she says can reverse the process, but you need the original body and a really powerful psychic pokemon to do it as well. I know she's done some bad stuff, but she's tried a lot harder than most to fix her mistakes." Alexa gave Sonya a grin and a thumbs up, the latter visibly relaxing at Alexa's gesture. "Sometimes you just gotta forgive, although most people have trouble with that."

* * *

><p>"Ok Sharon, what's this all about?" Sean demanded as Palkia shut the door.<p>

"I don't know! Celebi was the one who told me to get somewhere private. I don't know who was talking to him - it could have been anyone!" Palkia shrugged.

_**"Hello."**_

Palkia recovered from her shock extremely quickly. "Nevermind, I know who it was."

"Hey, Arceus! What's happened?" Celebi cheerily said.

_**"We have foreseen a potentially dangerous situation and would like to defuse it before it occurs. I fear that we are already too late, but the issue still warrants extensive discussion. I would have you join Lucas, possibly Myu and I in plotting out a plan of action."**_

Sean blinked. "Did Arceus just appear in my room again?!"

"You'll get used to it; he's got no sense of timing. Anyway, why just us? Why not the other legendaries? Also, mind actually telling us what happened?" Palkia replied, setting a hand on Sean's shoulder.

"As you well know, the Millenium Festival is now less than 6 months away, and while this isn't common knowledge, the come-"

Celebi explosively swore.

"Ah, I see Celebi has grasped the gravity of the situation. The nature of the comet is such that it will be passing in the near future, and unfortunately for us, Jirachi's stone has fallen into the possession of Team Galactic. Hopefully, they currently do not know what they possess, but I doubt Jirachi will remain hidden for long when she does decide to wake up."

Celebi shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure Jirachi has just appeared. I can track her because of the time displacement relationship between her and her rock 1000 years into the future, and someone is either waving the stone around extremely erratically or Jirachi has awoken. The good news is that I'll know where she is at all times."

Arceus paused for a moment. **_"Thus. We need a way to get her out of Team Galactic's possession before the comet passes or we'll be giving everyone in Team Galactic free wishes, which could potentially turn out badly."_**

Palkia's brows scrunched. "A bit of an understatement there. We'll be over soon, right Sean?"

Sean nodded, although his face still looked a little blank. "Yeah, sure. Sharon, you're going to have to do some explaining after, but if Arceus wants us somewhere, I think I should listen. Do we fly there or do you have another method of transport?"

Arceus shook his head. **_"I can teleport you directly, but your sudden disappearance from the hotel will cause consternation among the hotel staff. I think it safest that you fly there with Palkia and Celebi. You should make it to Veilstone by evening. Celebi knows the address. Farewell."_**

* * *

><p>"OhI'msosorryIdidn'tmeantodothatIjustwantedtogetou tandbythewaythanksforgettingmeoutitwas-", the creature exclaimed, grabbing Patrick's head with her paws.<p>

Patrick interrupted while massaging his chin. "Woah, slow down! Also, why can I understand you without my translator, and who are you? In fact, I have a few more quest-...oh, you're Jirachi, aren't you?" As the pokemon nodded gleefully, Patrick groaned. "Well, pleased to meet ya. I'm Patrick."

"I'm Jirachi!"

"...yes, I already know that."

"I know you know, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. Where are we? Place could use a little painting." Jirachi finally seemed to take note of her surroundings.

Patrick shrugged. "I actually have no idea. I appeared here before I found you. I'm from the future, and apparently it's because of you I appeared here, so I kinda hoped you'd know where we were. This bag, however," Patrick lifted Aron's bag, "belongs to the trainer who had your stone...Aron. I think they left their stuff here and went elsewhere in the building, but I'm not sure."

Jirachi perked up, before drooping down shortly after. "Ah, yes. I remember him! I'm sorry I don't know where we were. What do you say we go look for them?"

Patrick saluted. "Yes sir!"

Jirachi laughed. "Haha, you're much funnier than Aron! Let's go!" With that, she perched herself on Patrick's head.

A little unsteady, Patrick opened the door and stepped out.

"Hey! Who the bloody hell are you?" Patrick turned at the shout to see a Galactic grunt run at him, tugging a pokeball from his belt. Patrick paled. _'Yikes.'  
><em>

"Jirachi?"

"Yes? We're in trouble, aren't we?" Jirachi replied nonchalantly.

"Yes. I don't think Aron and Jirachi are sightseeing."

"No, they probably aren't. Say, that person is closing in on us pretty quickly."

"Yes. We should probably run."

"That's a good idea. Oh, look, he's only a few steps away. I'll slow him a bit, but yes, we should both run." With that, Jirachi lifted off Patrick's head and sped off down the corridor, away from the grunt, who was now writhing on the ground, clutching his head.

"Hey!" Patrick shouted as he set off after the jirachi. "Wait for me!"

* * *

><p>After the chameleon and the raichu had stopped talking to each other, Sonya plucked up the courage to say something.<p>

"Err...Firael? Alexa? It's just Firael now, right? You've used the solution to return Alexa back to her body?"

The charmeleon looked a little confused before comprehension dawned in her eyes. Then she shook her head. Beside her, Rai perked up and asked the charmeleon a question which was quickly deflected.

Sonya cocked an eyebrow. "Wait, Alexa's still in there with you?"

"Char." Alexa pointed at herself.

"Oh, you're Alexa." Alexa nodded. "I see….why haven't you used the solution? I...I don't think it will work on you now...you two have been together for too long for you to maintain completely separate personalities. I mean, if you'd used it when I had given you the solution, you would have still had a little bit of overlap between your personalities...again, why didn't you use the solution? All you needed was a psychic pokemon and Alexa's body." Comprehension dawned on Sonya as she shut her eyes in defeat. "You don't know where Alexa's body is, do you?"

The charmeleon morosely shook her head.

"Well….I guess you're stuck this way now. If you were to try using the serum, it'd still work by stopping brain functions so that the psychic can get to your consciousnesses, but no psychic would likely be able to unravel your twin personalities. It's kinda like a knot that has started to fuse, making it untieable unless you snap it. Trust me, you wouldn't want to snap it."

Alexa shrugged as Rai tried to talk to her again. Sonya watched the two pokemon briefly talk for a moment before Alexa stared at Sonya and pointed at Rai.

"What does Rai have to do with th- oh. Yes, I suppose the serum would work on him, but you'd still need a good psychic pokemon. I guess his body is around here as well. Of course, this all implies we get out and somehow gain access to Rob's body and a powerful psychic pokemon." Sonya slumped back against the walls of the cage.

In anger, Alexa loosed a flamethrower at the side of a cage, filling the room in a thin film of smoke.

* * *

><p>Arceus found Myu in Solaceon Town, attending to some baby aipom.<p>

_**"Well," **_Arceus said telepathically._**"Rayquaza won't be too happy when he finds out you didn't stay on Iron Island."**_

He saw Myu visibly stiffen before she abruptly stood up and told another handler that she had to leave since a family issue had come up. As she walked out of the daycare, she used her limited telepathy to reply back.

"Wow, that was very rude. Couldn't you have said something nicer like 'good morning' or 'oh Mew, how I've missed your charming demeanor'? I don't think Rayquaza actually expected me to stay on that island, did he? All I had to do was ask one of the water pokemon to give me a lift off the island."

Arceus fought back a chuckle as Mew slid into a grove of trees nearby. **_"Unfortunately, an issue has come up regarding Jirachi, and I'd appreciate your input. Unless you strongly object, I will teleport you to Veilstone where Lucas is waiting. Celebi and Palkia will also be along shortly."_**

Myu sighed. "So be it. Must be bad if you're coming to me for help. Let's go. You know, why don't you actually visit me once when there's no business that I need to attend to? That'd be nice."

**_"I did visit you recently with nothing of importance. Do you not remember that time I came over 12 millennia ago?"_**

* * *

><p>"Jirachi, we need to split! That way you might be able to get away; I'm too slow to keep up with you, but so are they!" Patrick gasped as he rounded a corner. His atheletc training had allowed him to stay moving for a lot longer than the grunt that originally discovered them, but said guard had simply raised the alarm and now the entire facility seemed to be looking for them.<p>

"There! Go, Luxray!" Patrick saw a grunt appear down a corridor on his right. Wheezing, he pressed on.

"Yeah, ok. Just try not to get hurt too bad, ok?" Jirachi said, before flying off in the other direction.

_'At least she's got a chance without me slowing her down. I'm knackered…'_

He considered trying to hide, but hadn't taken another step when he felt sharp claws sink into his back, knocking him forwards.

"Ooof!" Patrick made to get up, but the prickling at the nape of his neck made him change his mind rather quickly.

"Lux!"

"Good job! That kid's pretty fast, but four legs are still faster, aren't they!" Patrick heard the luxray's owner walk up behind him and snap a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. "Now, you have got some explaining to do."

* * *

><p>Myu shook her head as Lucas finished explaining the situation to her. Lucas had also had the presence of mind to let his pokemon up so that they could be brought up to speed. "My, you've certainly found yourself in a bit of a bind. What have you guys come up with so far?"<p>

Lucas shrugged. "All we've come up with are all the hurdles that we'll face. We haven't got any solutions yet."

A knocking came from the door. "Yo, Lucas! Open the door! I got us some lunch!"

"Yeah, ok Morgan." Lucas got up to open the door. Morgan walked in with a few boxes of pizza and two bottles of lemonade.

"I feel that we should take a methodical approach to this problem. Start at the beginning, so to speak. The first question posed is that of entry. How do we propose to get in?"

"Why, I was just thinking of barging in with all my pokemon." Lucas shrugged. "Between Sean and I, we should be able to hold our own."

"Hmm, if you want, if you're willing to let me be a mew again, I can come with you two and fight. I certainly know how to fight better than you in that body." Myu was looking thoughtful.

Arceus cleared its throat. _**"Ah, Myu, I haven't informed you of my decision yet. I don't wish to involve any more legendaires directly. It is too risky and Galactic are already in a very dangerous position when they discover they have Jirachi."**_

Myu threw her hands up in the air. "Well, then why did you bring me here? Did you actually think I would come up with any helpful suggestions? If you want my input, you let me fight with Lucas and this Sean person." To Lucas, she added, "Oh, and you need to tell me who Sean is."

Arceus sighed. **_"I had planned to make you mew so that Lucas can fight without risking the capture of a legendary. You could still help from outside. Transmit directions and the such."_**

Myu wagged a finger at Arceus. "Nuh uh. If I get involved, I get completely involved. You know I'm not one for half measures."

_**"Fine, so be it. While we're at it, let's perform the transfer of...mewship across. Lucas, if you would be so kind as to do the honours. We can discuss plans after this is done."**_

* * *

><p>Patrick grunted as he was shoved into a room with some cages inside it. Looking around, he noticed that one of the cages held Aron and Isrea. He was about to greet them, but Isrea reacted first.<p>

"Who's that?"

_'What do you mean by that have you gone crazy you know who I am you dingus.'_

The person guarding him chose not to respond, instead opening the cage next to Aron and Isrea's before pushing Patrick into it. Once the cage was locked, the guard unlocked Patrick's handcuffs before leaving the room, the door hissing shut behind her.

Rubbing his hands, Patrick turned on Isrea in the neighbouring cage. "You don't remember me? I-"

"Shhhhhhh…." Isrea hushed him. "You want them to ask you more questions than before? I'm just making life easier for you when they come."

Patrick shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I can just go to sleep and go back to my world. Personally, I think that's the best thing to do right now. It's actually really easy for me to go to sleep when I'm in this time period. I think it's because it's because I'm waking up in my time, so...yeah. Still….what happened to you two?"

Isrea was about to reply when Aron called out from his position behind Isrea. "Wait….you know how you brought Juka into this world?"

"...yeah?"

"D'you think it works both ways?"

"Well...I don't see why not." Patrick responeded before he realised what was being asked of him. Eyes wide, he stepped back from the cage walls. "Wait. No, no. Nononononononononono. My mum will kill me. Kill me! She'll kill me and then skin me alive! Do you know how painful that is?"

Isrea raised an eyebrow. "How can she skin you alive after kil- Nevermind! You know, Aron's actually got a good idea for once-"

"Hey! I resent that!"

"For once, and it's probably the only way we're going to get out of this place. Pat, if you haven't figured it out yet, we're in Team Galactic's headquarters and if you don't want to risk getting caught by your mother, Aron and I are going to get...'removed'." She mimed quotation marks around the last word.

Patrick clenched his fists. "You mean they'll kill you? You've done nothing!"

"Since when has that meant anything? Firael, Alexa, Rob….none of them have done anything, and what have they got to show for such indifference? Ok, Rob kinda got himself involved, but my point still stands. From what our captors have told us, it seems that we'll both be getting the Firael treatment. You know..." Isrea spread her hands and pointed them at each other, palms facing towards her body, before pushing them towards each other, interlacing the fingers above and beneath each other.

Patrick leant his head on a cage bar. "You've got a point. Still, what happens if it does work? If you get caught, you're not going to be able to make it back and you'll be stuck in the future with nothing except your clothes."

"We're willing to take that risk. Anyway, can't you just go straight back to sleep, effectively teleporting us to where Jirachi's rock is?" Aron said.

Patrick held up a finger. "Err...about that."

"What?"

"She's appeared and Galactic are currently chasing her everywhere."

Aron and Isrea looked at each other."That's not good."

"No, it isn't."

"If they catch her, we're going to get a lot of uncomfortable questions. We need to try leaving now! Jirachi can be caught at any moment, and once she's identified you can be sure that this room is going to get a lot more crowded.

"Ok. I'm going to lie on my back and put my arms through the bars of my cage. Just reach through and touch them. I don't know if you have to be asleep to go through, but try falling asleep with me." With that said, Partick laid down and reached through the cage. Once he felt Aron and Isrea grasp his hands, he shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

><p>"It doesn't matter what happens when we get in if we don't know how to enter their base." Lucas said. They had spent the past hour or so discussing possible strategies, but none of them were easily executable and were unlikely to work.<p>

Nara spoke up, Lucas' flygon having chosen to curl up on the carpet next to the television. "Well, if only they know how to get in, then maybe we could trick them into telling us how to get in!"

Lucas shook his head. "How would that work anyway? They're not stupid, you-"

"Actually", Myu interjected, "it's got some merit. Maybe we could slip a tracker onto one of the grunts and follow where the grunt goes."

"It relies heavily on luck - I don't like it. I doubt that most of the people in the Galactic Coorporation have access or even know the location of wherever Jirachi is being held." Lear replied. The gallade strode over to where a street map of the area around the Galactica building was placed on the coffee table. Tapping the police station with the tip of his blade-shaped paw, Lear started speaking again. "Still, if we were going to try the tracker idea, I think it would be better to focus our efforts on the police station, not the building next door. What about getting a ghost pokemon to scout the place out?"

_**"Yes. The police station has less security than the Galatica building. It would be prudent to focus our efforts on the police station. It is obvious that they must have some sort of access to wherever Aron and Isrea are being held since Lucas and Morgan did not report seeing anyone leave the building. However, sending in a ghost pokemon is unlikely to work since there are a lot of houndoom in police stations.**_" Arceus mused.

"Wait, how large is the tracker?" Morgan queried.

Lucas shrugged. "Well, the only tracker of any sort I've got on me is the GPS on my phone, but Rowan's lab has got some tags with tracker chips that are about the size of a thumbtack that we use for tagging pokemon. Why?"

Morgan leaned forward. "I've got an idea…"

* * *

><p>Jirachi had accidentally flown into a dead end. Behind her, the door slammed shut.<p>

_'Oh no….'_

Gritting her teeth, she backed up across the room and flew across the room, ramming the door with her head. She ran into the door with a loud whamming noise and felt the door slightly buckle under the force. Moving away for another crack at the door, Jirachi felt a little confidence creep in.

_'Hah! I've still got this. A few more shots and I'll be back out!"_

She quickly went about slowly battering the door down, pausing a few times to meditate shortly, making the pain in her head go away. Eventually, she saw one of the hinges give away.

_'Last one….'_

Jirachi was dimly aware of a popping sound as the other hinges in the door gave away and she flew out of the room across the corridor. She was acutely aware of the dozen attacks that hit her just as she emerged. Losing height, she whirled around to see a veritable army of pokemon arrayed along both corridors. She tried to prepare a psychic attack, but was blasted from both sides by multiple attacks.

When the smoke cleared, Jirachi was lying on the ground, with the walls around her bulging outwards from the combined forces of the pokemons' attacks. A grunt nervously walked up to get a closer look.

"And what in heaven's name are you supposed to be?"

* * *

><p>"Wow."<p>

Patrick blearily opened his eyes. Realising it was nearly dawn, he looked around to see Aron and Isrea looking around his room.

"Hey, you two!" He hissed. "Get under the bed before my mother comes! Quick!"

The two quickly did as they were told. Patrick got up and got changed for school when his mother knocked on his door. "Patrick?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, you're awake. Well, I'm just reminding you to hand in that excursion form today. You'll have to make your own way to school today; I can't drive you because I've got to leave early."

"Yep, no problem."

As his mother's footsteps subsided, Patrick let out a sigh of relief and looked under his bed. Two sets of eyes glinted back at him.

"Phew, she didn't come in this time. My mother always likes to wake me up if I sleep in. I swear she gets a kick from watching me struggle out of bed every morning. Well, I've got to rush off to school since I don't get a ride. I strongly suggest waiting in my room until I come back. It'll be boring, but I'm sure it beats sitting in a cage."

"Yeah, sure….could you just bring some food before you go? I assume the tap water is drinkable here." Isrea whispered back.

"Yeah, it's potable. I'll bring you some stuff to eat, no worries." With that, Patrick left the room for the kitchen.

* * *

><p>There was a knock at the door. "Hey, Lucas, you there? This is the address we were told to go to! It's Sean."<p>

"Lucas isn't here at the moment, but I'll let you in. Just give me a sec!" Morgan said as she strode over to the door.

As soon as the door opened, Myu recognised Palkia and Celebi. "Oh hey Palkia! How's Celebi holding up with you?"

Palkia hugged Myu as Celebi sullenly watched from the shadows. "Pretty good, but Celebi's a tough customer all the time. Oh," Palkia turned to Morgan and held out a hand. "Who are you? I'm Sha-...wait, I'm guessing you know everyone here, don't you? I'm Palkia and this axew here is Celebi."

Morgan nodded and shook the proffered hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Morgan. Lucas and Arceus are just off getting something from Rowan. They should be back soon. Err….I didn't think you'd be a human though….what's up with that? Also, why is Celebi an axew?"

Palkia shrugged. "Long story. I guess I can tell it to you after this is all over. So, what have we done so far?"

Morgan sat down and leaned back. "We've figured out a way of finding out how to get into secret Galactic area, but that's about it. I think Lucas plans to just go in once we know the way. We don't know enough to sneak in."

Celebi piped up. "If it helps, I know roughly where Jirachi is. Since appearing, she spent most of her time in one spot pretty far underground, so we can assume she's either hiding or caught. Also, Jirachi's time-travelling partner has just taken two humans back with him to the future, so if they do come back it'll be sometime tomorrow morning near where Jirachi is being kept."

Seeing Morgan's quizzical look, Palkia took the cue and translated for her. "Basically, Celebi says that Jirachi is quite far underground and is either hiding or has been caught. Pretty much, it means that Celebi can guide us to Jirachi once we're in, although he can only give us a direction in which to go. Also, apparently Jirachi's time-travelling partner has just taken two humans into the future and will come back tomorrow morning wherever Jirachi is, whatever that means."

"It's still something, but Arceus doesn't want any direct legendary involvement, so you'll have to find a way to communicate with us remotely. That being said, Myu's still joining us. As for that time-travelling guy, that's probably Patrick. Maybe he's managed to make contact with Aron and Isrea and take them with him into the future. Oh….Aron and Isrea were the trainers Myu travelled with for some time and they had Jirachi's rock before getting caught." Morgan replied.

"Celebi can just tell me where to go using telepathy. It's not too complicated." Myu said.

"Hmm, well…." Morgan sighed. "When Lucas and Arceus come back, we can start working out the timing of the plan. I reckon we should set it in motion tonight, but we'll wait for Lucas and Arceus to come back before finalising that, I think."

* * *

><p>In the Containment Chamber, Saturn stared at the pokemon inside the airtight cubic box. "So. This is Jirachi, the wish pokemon?"<p>

Beside him, Nikolai nodded. "Yes sir. We found her and a boy walking around the base. We don't know how either got there, but the boy has also been caught and has been placed with the other two trainers. We postponed questioning him since we devoted all our resources to catching Jirachi, but I've ordered him to be taken in for an interview now. Do you know the lore surrounding Jirachi?"

"Yes, I do, and I intend to make use of it. Go and requisition some of those ice and electricity cannons - the ones we didn't use at Spear Pillar - and set them up in this room."

"Sir, you do realise that those cannons were not designed to be kept running for long periods of time, do you?"

"I do. Install them but don't activate them until I tell you to do so. Do this as quickly as possible. Speed is imperative."

"Sir. Where are they supposed to point? At Jirachi?"

"No. Point them at the door and along the middle of the room."

"Sir?"

"Jirachi is too important of a pokemon to be left here. Someone is bound to come after her. Personally, I'm hoping Arceus shows its head, but it's all academic. All I need is Jirachi, although Arceus is preferred. Increase security in the Inner Sanctum. Nobody enters this room and only personnel with the second highest level of clearance can enter the Inner Sanctum. Call all our grunts in. We might have a fight on our hands soon."

At that moment, a grunt approached the containment chamber. "Sir! The three trainers have escaped!"

"What?"

"They….they've just disappeared. Nobody knows where they went. Cameras have them there one moment and gone the next!"

Saturn shook his head irritably. "No matter. None of this will matter in a few days anyway. If you apprehend anyone, don't put them in those cages again. I don't know how they got out, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry." Saturn strode out of the Containment Chamber into the Inner Sanctum, a network of rooms surrounding the Containment Chamber. "Nikolai, go get those cannons for me. You." Saturn motioned the grunt over. "Go to the control room and change clearance requirements for the Inner Sanctum to 'Level 8'. Change clearance requirements for the Containment Chamber to 'Level 9'. After this, you are to leave the Inner Sanctum and inform as many of your colleagues of this change as possible. Inform them that it shouldn't last more than a week or two."

"Sir!"

Saturn watched both Nikolai and the grunt leave before turning back to regard the fainted legendary with a cool gaze.

_'All I need is a wish…I won't need Arceus now that I have Jirachi.'_

* * *

><p><em>'Air!'<em>

_'I need air!'_

Jirachi's back arched up as she gasped out for air and found little to breathe, streamers reaching out like the fingers of a drowning swimmer. She tried to get up but had to stop when spots started to swim before her eyes. Flopping back onto the floor, she tried to see where she was. Even the turning of her head left her dizzy, her vision blurring as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

_'Air….there's not enough to breathe….'_

She was in a large room...in a glass box….

Jirachi blacked out again.

* * *

><p>Kova and Rynade were both packing their belongings when Rynade got a call.<p>

"Hello? It's Rynade. Hmmm? Ok." Rynade walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

His interest piqued, Kova moved closer to the door, edging it open before leaning against the gap.

* * *

><p>"Hello? It's Rynade."<p>

"This is a call from Galactic - I've received orders to call all of our operators in."

"All of them? Really? What's happened?"

"I...I'm afraid I'm not allowed to say that, sir."

"Not allowed? I've got level 7 clearance! You're telling me that the third highest level of clearance isn't high enough?"

"Errr...let me check." Rynade tapped his feet in frustration as the sound of ruffling paper fizzed out of the speaker. "I guess I could tell you…"

"Go on, out with it! I haven't got all day!"

"Sorry sir. I can't quite say everything since I don't have the clearance for that, but we've captured a powerful pokemon and need your help guarding it."

"Powerful? You mean legendary. No need for Saturn to want to capture and protect a normal pokemon."

"Well, yeah."

"So you do know! Why didn't you tell me then?" Rynade grinned as he imagined the caller wince over the phone.

"Well sir...there are all these rumours going around….For Mew's sake! I don't actually know if it's a legendary! It's just what I've heard!"

"Huh. I'll be there by tomorrow morning then."

* * *

><p>Kova moved away from the door.<p>

_'So Galactic have captured a legendary, have they? It could be Mew; I should tell Giovanni.'_

When Rynade reentered the room, Kova had gone back to trying to squeeze his belongings back into his backpack. As he finally shoved his toothbrush down the side pocket, Kova clapped his hands together and strolled out the door. "I'm going out to get dinner. You want anything?"

"Nah."

"Eh, suit yourself."

As soon as he was out of the hotel, Kova pulled out his phone and phoned Giovanni.

"Yes? What is it, Kova?"

"Sir, I've just received news that Galactic have just captured a very powerful pokemon and are guarding it with most or all of their staff. I have it on very good faith that it's a legendary pokemon."

A moment's pause on the line. Then, "I see."

"Sir?"

"I am very disappointed that Saturn has not informed me of this development. After all, are we not partners in this? If it happens to be mew, I will be even more disappointed. Thank you for your information. I will arrange a trip to Sinnoh immediately - arriving there by tomorrow morning if I use my fastest pokemon. In the meantime, try finding out the location of their headquarters by following Ryrainde there."

"Err...I think it's Rynade, not Ryrainde."

"Whatever. Good Evening." With that, Giovanni hung up.

* * *

><p>Rynade grinned as he pulled his phone away from his ear.<p>

_'I knew my phone tap would come in handy someday. So, Giovanni's paying us a visit, eh? Guess it's rude if we don't welcome him.'_

Rynade gave Saturn a call.

"Yes Rynade? I don't quite have the time for this right now, just get back to base."

"Yes sir, I know. I would just like to tell you that Giovanni has gotten wind of your….recent acquisition. He's planning on following me to your headquarters by using the Rocket agent that I'm currently working with. He'll arrive at Sinnoh tomorrow, so I won't have much time to get away, if that's what you want me to do-"

A hearty chuckle came over the line. "He thinks I have mew! Oh, this is delightful. I don't think I want you to lead Giovanni away; quite the contrary. Does Kova have a way of tracking you remotely?"

Rynade thought for a moment. "No, I don't think - wait, yes, he does! I gave him my GPS link data so we could meet near Eterna City. If he's any smart, he still has it. I can cancel the connection if you want me to, since I was going to do so tomorrow anyway."

"No, leave it. Try to delay Kova's departure as long as possible while leaving as soon as possible. I want Giovanni here, but I don't want him here too soon."

"Got it. I'll try getting there before tomorrow morning." With that, Rynade hung up.

_'Looks like a trip to the pharmacy is in store for me.'_

* * *

><p>The room smelled of smoke. Sonya was listlessly picking at the fine mesh of her cage while Firael leaned her head against a wall on the other side of the cage. Rai curled up was beside her, sleeping. The charmeleon had unleashed large bursts of flame at the cage wall to no avail, succeeding only in filling the room up in dark grey smoke, the remnants of Firael's last attempt still lingering.<p>

Firael felt the raichu beside her stir slowly.

"Firael?"

Firael turned to face Rai. "Yeah?"

"It's…..it's Rob, at the moment. I...I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. Sorry for losing you." Upon closer inspection, Firael noticed that Rob was tearing up.

"You don't need to say anything." Firael forced a small smile before sighing. "What good would it do?" Upon seeing Rob flatten his ears, Firael realised that what she had just said had not come across as she had intended. "No, not like that! I know you tried your best to save me, and I had no idea you were still looking for me when you ran into us in Sinnoh. What I was trying to say was that there is no point in harbouring regrets. What's done is done, and nothing can change it. Why mope about the past when you can change the future?"

"No, you don't understand! Everything fell apart before I found you again! Two of my pokemon left me! Firael, they left me!" Sonya, hearing Rob's sniffling, put an extremely tentative hand on the raichu's back. "Do you know what that says about me as a trainer?"

Firael waved her paws, shaking her head. "No, no, it's not as bad as you put it. They probably left in a fit of anger." Inside her head, Alexa voiced a small question,

_'From what Drats and Vaiel told us, he got pretty impossible to deal with before they left. Besides, are you going to mention that we've got all of his other pokemon? Well….they're with Galactic now, but...y'know.'_

Rob was shaking his head. "No, I now realise that I had changed. For the worse. Firael, I'm not who I once was, and that scares me."

Firael shut her eyes. "Everyone changes. I've actually got some news for you as well. We, uh, ran into your dragonair and vaporeon a few months ago. We've also got your ninjask and scizor from when you fought Kova near Eterna. Of course, they're all in Galactic's possession now."

Rob gave a wry grin. "Earlier on, you spoke about changing the future. I guess we aren't exactly in a position to do that now, are we?"

"No. I guess we aren't." Firael slumped into a seating position. "I guess we aren't."

* * *

><p>With dinner still settling in her stomach, Morgan stepped through the threshold and into the reception area.<p>

"Welcome to Veilstone City Police Center! What can the VCPD do for you?"

Morgan took a deep breath. "Well, I'd like to file 2 or 3 missing persons reports…"

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! Thus ends another giant chapter. Google docs actually starts doing weird stuff when you start hitting such high word counts in one doc file. I might have to start writing chapters in two halves if I'm going to keep writing stuff of this length. I know it's bloody long, but this was the only place I could think of which provided a good place for the chapter to end. On another note, I've been actively trying to add more descriptive language in my recent writing so the dialogue doesn't seem so 'ping-pongy'. I'm never going to end up with purple prose, but my writing feels extremely spartan at the moment.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Rush: Wow, Firael. You really screwed up that happy reunion part. <strong>

**Firael: I want to hit you extremely hard.**

**Steven: Care to quantify that?**

**Firael: Huh, what do you mean?**

**Steven: Well, basically, how hard do you want to hit him? Give me a number.**

**Vendel: He wants force in Newtons.**

**Firael: What? What was wrong with the old ones?**

**Rush: Really? I told you she's a lost cause, Steven.**

**Firael: Right, that's it. Steven, how about you measure how many tonnes of force I'm about to apply to this bird?**

**Steven: YOU HAVE THE WRONG UNITS.**


	38. Rational thinking

**Interestingly enough, I think this is the first time I've actually had to list Isrea's surname. Not that that's important - it's just that I thought I'd already used it. **

**DISCLAIMER: There are some electrical and metallurgical shamaladingdongs that will probably make enthusiasts in those particular fields want to stave my head in. Still, I'm pretty sure the theory is sound. Right? _Right?_ Please don't hurt me….**

* * *

><p>"Ah." The receptionist bobbed his head before putting on a pair of glasses. "Ok. What are the names of the missing people and do you think they'd be together or not?"<p>

"Robert Palmer, Aron Silpha and Isrea Tanning. Aron and Isrea were travelling with me but disappeared yesterady. Robert's been missing for longer than that."

"Oh? Oooookkaaaayyy…." The man muttered as he typed the name into the computer on his desk. "That's 'Palmer' with one 'l', is that right?"

"Mmhmm."

"Riooooght. We'll start with Mr. Palmer first... Yep, got his profile. Where and when was he last- oh dear. If you'll excuse me." The receptionist stopped talking as the his phone began ringing.

"Hello? Yes. Yes, again. Yeah, it probably is. Ok, I'll be right over!" With that, the receptionist put the phone down and excused himself from the room. As closed the door, he glanced at Morgan again. "Sorry, something's just come up. I'll be back in a few minutes. Why don't you take a seat?"

Morgan's heart was pounding, but she nodded back. "Sure." She had no idea if she was heard, as the door was already closed. Sighing, she made her way to one of the seats and sat down to wait for...anything.

She sat there for what felt like 10 minutes, going over the plan in her head over and over again, acid burning in the pit of her stomach.

_'What if Lucas can't make it all the way to Jirachi? What if they can only escape with Jirachi and I'm left behind? They wouldn't do that, would they? But they would. Still, doing nothing is worse than trying and failing. Is it? God, why can't something happen? The wait's killing me!'_

The lights went out.

* * *

><p>Saturn was fixing himself a cup of warm spiced water before bed when the phone rang. Turning off the kettle, he walked into his living quarters and answered the call.<p>

The caller spoke first. "Hey there! Is that Trevor?"

Saturn grinned when he recognized the voice. Clearing his throat, he put on a hackneyed Unovan accent. "Yeah man! You got that stuff on the comet?."

"Yep! Had to pull rank to get the telescope reassigned to me for a bit, but I did. Mossdeep's observato-"

"Good. Know when it'll come closest to Earth?"

"Err...I don't have very accurate measurements, but sometime tomorrow morning. Lateish. I don't really have time to give you anything more detailed, I'm afraid. By the way, how did you know the comet was coming? They're notoriously hard to spot."

"Ahh well, y'know how it is. Got what they call a premonition. Thanks for the info. Y'all have a good day!"

"You too!"

Saturn grinned as he placed the phone down. _'Good. I was hoping I didn't have to wait long. A new era awaits.'_

He hustled back to grab the water before going to bed.

* * *

><p>Nikolai was heading to his sleeping quarters when his earpiece buzzed. Putting a hand to the earpiece to hear better, he gruffly spoke into his coat microphone.<p>

"For crying out loud, it's midnight! Well, what is it? I'm about to sleep!"

"Sir, we've just subdued another trainer. She claimed to know Aron, Isrea and Rob."

Nikolai stopped walking. "Oh? That's interesting….put her in the same cage as the other trainers." Nikolai paused, and then spoke again, correcting himself. "Actually, no. We still don't know how those other trainers escaped. Put her in one of the cages in the room with Sonya. We'll figure out what to do with her tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Rynade put the sleeping pills he had just bought from a pharmacy in his pocket as he walked into the room he shared with Kova. He had already popped 3 capsules out of their tabs and emptied the powderinside them into a bottlecap. Said bottlecap was then wrapped in glad wrap and safely stowed away in his other pocket.<p>

Kova's head popped out of the bathroom, toothpaste foaming around his mouth. "Wheer werre yuuh? Itsh really lache!"

Rynade shrugged. "Couldn't find anywhere that served dinner this late, so it took some time."

Kova ducked back into the bathroom. "Noh fasth foo' jointh?"

Hurrying over to Kova's bedside table, Rynade replied as he pulled wrapped bottlecap out of his pocket. "Yeah, but I had to walk pretty far to find one." He unfolded the glad wrap before pouring the contents of the bottlecap into the glass of water by Kova's bedside. Rynade stirred the water with his finger until the power had all dissolved. After doing so, he walked over to the stove and pulled out two mugs and a can of powdered hot chocolate.

Kova walked out of the bathroom rubbing his face with a towel. Throwing it in the corner, he slumped into his bed and leaned over to grab a drink of water. "Ptah!" He shouted as he spat the water out. "This tastes disgusting!"

Rynade held up the can of cholocate. "Yeah, the tap water in this city is sometimes dodgy. I'm making some hot chocolate, want some to wash out your mouth?"

"Yeah….yeugh." Kova opened the window and threw the rest of the water out. While doing so, he didn't notice Rynade pour the contents of three more sleeping capsules into one of the cups of milk. By the time he had turned back, Rynade had stuffed the pills back into his pocket and was putting the cups of milk in the microwave.

A minute later, the milk was warm enough and Rynade took both cups out before pouring in a liberal amount of chocolate and sugar. Kova watched with a doubtful eye.

"That….is a lot of sugar."

Rynade chuckled. "That's just how we do it in Sinnoh." He held out the cup with sleeping powder in it, offering it to Kova. "Here."

"Thanks." Kova took a sip. "Hmm...y'know, it's not that bad. Sure, it's really sweet, but it's quite bitter as well. Interesting."

"Yeah, I told you so. Sinnoan cocca is very bitter."

Kova was fingering the hot chocolate container. "It says here that it was made in Jhoto."

Rynade tried not to gag as he swallowed the sickly sweet brew. "Oh, um...that's weird."

When both of them had finished, Kova went to bed while Rynade cleaned up.

He was snoring within minutes.

* * *

><p>While the chilly night wind rustled the leaves below Lucas' hotel room, Lucas and Sean were finalising preparations for their assault on the police station.<p>

"Ok, let's run over the plan again." Mew asked.

Sean packed a last revive into his pack before standing up. "Well," He moved over to the table where a large rectangle had been drawn on a piece of paper with a few red dots inked into the paper, forming a trail. "Looking at the data obtained from that tracker Morgan swallowed, we have a pretty good idea as to where the entrance to Galactic's underground base is, since it has to be somewhere along this dotted line."

"Right. I'll walk into the police station on my own and ask for a surprise inspection - they can't really say no to me. I'll try to excuse myself to send Rynka and Lear out. The bellossom's stun spore will be good for subduing people and my gallade's a ninja so he's going as well. You two knock out whoever is with you and we'll look for the entrance afterwards. There shouldn't be too many people here since it's before 2 in the morning, but you never know." Behind Lucas, Lear started bashing his head on the table while Rynka looked on in amusement.

Sean nodded. "Right. Then we move into the base and rely on Celebi's instructions to get us to Jirachi?"

"Yep!" Mew flew over with a road map and marked a dot several hundred metres north-west of the Galactica building. "That's where Celebi figures Jirachi is. Their base is really big."

Sean's eyes widened. "Wow! It's huge! Jirachi's a long way away….we're going to have to fight our way quite a lot of grunts."

"Yeah, but we've got way stronger pokemon." Lucas grinned as he elbowed Sean before turning to Rush, Steven and Morgan's pokemon. "You'll probably get in the way if you tried to fight your way in with us, but if you'll watch our backs, that'd be great. That fine for you guys?"

Said pokemon solemnly nodded.

Mew spoke up again. "When I change out of my human form, which I intend to be absolutely fabulous, what should I become? Just Mew?"

Arceus, who had previously been watching, decided to speak up. _**"Transform into me. We know that Galactic want me after the events at Spear Pillar, but we don't know why. Showing as an arceus might bait them into revealing important information which we can then act on once Jirachi is rescued. That, and you'll be pretty powerful in my form. Also, try to tone down the fabulousness. The last time you tried to be fabulous someone had a stroke."**_

Mew threw her hands up in the air. "That was three hundred years ago! You're no fun."

Sean piped up. "Fair enough. What if we get caught?"

_**"God help us if we get caught."**_

There was a moment of silence before it was broken by Sean. "Isn't that you?"

Arceus sighed morosely. _**"It was an attempt at humour."**_

"Personally, I don't really mind dying. Not anymore. After this, Lucas or someone else can become mew for good." Mew put her paws together and rubbed them furiously. "I've had my share of life and all the burdens that come with it."

Lucas cocked his head at this unexpected relevation. "But what about all the good things? You know, all the fun stuff you can do?"

Mew gave Lucas a rueful smile. "Diminishing returns."

* * *

><p>'Right, I'm back. Time to find out what all this hullabaloo is about.' Rynade thought as he got off his murkrow.<p>

He made his way towards to police station.

* * *

><p>"...ake….lithering….of potat….." Kova wasn't sure where the yelling came from. It sounded like it was coming from far away, approaching quickly.<p>

_'ehhhh...what?'_ He opened his eyes, to find Giovanni staring back at him. He was apoplectic, judging by his ruddy complexion and what was left of the hotel door behind him. Giovanni had obviously decided that keys were something that happened to other people. Still drowsy, Kova didn't make things any better with his next statement.

"What?"

"I said wake up, you blithering excuse for a sack of potatos! You were supposed to keep track of Rynade instead of dreaming about the flaming Antique Roadshow!" Spittle was flying everywhere.

"Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Because you talk in your sleep!" Giovanni dragged him out of bed and threw Kova into a chair before heading off towards the kitchen area. Dazed, Kova thought about what had happened in the few minutes leading up to him going to sleep.

_'I don't even like that show! Why did I sleep in so late? I could have sworn I set myself some alarms….'_

Giovanni came back with 2 glasses of water. He handed the first to Kova.

"Thanks."

Giovanni then threw the contents of the second glass at him.

"What the- why'd you do that...sir?" Kova fell off his chair, spilling the water in his glass on himself in the process.

"Good, you're awake. Now, how are we going to find out where Rynade has gone since you've failed in what seemed to be a simple task?"

Gasping and dripping wet, Kova shook his head and headed over to his bedside table. "I might have a failsafe. Rynade shared his GPS data with me in Eterna City so we could track each other. Chances are he's forgotten to turn it off." He opened a drawer and started fumbling with his phone. "Ah. He _has_ forgotten. Well, he's heading for Veilstone City. I-"

"Wonderful, let's go. Get changed - I'll meet you outside in one minute." Giovanni stood up and brushed himself off before heading out. Before he left, Kova asked one last question.

"Wait! What about the receptionist and other staff? What are you going to tell them about the door?"

A sneer. "I killed them all."

"You what?"

Chuckling, Giovanni turned around and waved a goodbye. "Of course I didn't. That would be evil. I'm not evil."

* * *

><p>Sean, Lucas and Mew (disguised as a human) walked into the receptionist's area of the Veilstone Police Center. The squealing of the swinging door alerted the receptionist, who was currently writing on his desk.<p>

While writing, the receptionist spoke. "Welcome to the Veilstone City Police Station! What can the VCPD do for you?"

Lucas kept his voice low and measured. "We're here to perform a surprise inspection on the treatment of short-term detainees in all police stations around the region."

Startled, the man behind the desk looked up. "You can't….oh, I'm sorry I didn't recognise you, Champion. I'm afraid that I haven't heard anything about this inspection."

Lucas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It wouldn't be a 'surprise' inspection if I told you about it in advance, would it? We won't be too long. We'll just look around the area and in your detainment cells to make sure they're being kept clean. Nothing fancy." He pointed at Sean and Mew respectively. "I'm mostly here as a figurehead. Samuel and Diane will be asking most, if not all of the questions for the length of this inspection, so please make sure you try your best to answer all their questions. If some of Samuel's seem a little odd, just be patient. He's apprenticing and is probably pretty nervous, aren't you, Sam?" He winked cheerily at Sean, who replied with an anxious grin.

The receptionist looked a little bewildered, but he recovered quickly. "Yes, indeed. Come! I'll show you around." He opened the door opposite the one that Lucas and the others had entered through. "These are the offices, which are in the centre of the building", he said, showing them in. "The station itself doesn't have a lot of detainment cells since crime is pretty low in this city. Do you want to see them first, or do you want a full tour instead?"

Lucas realised the question was directed at him, so he shrugged. "I don't know. Ask Diane. Do you have any coffee? This is an ungodly time of day, but those inspectors insisted, I'm afraid."

"...Yes. "

Lucas clapped his hands. "Well, when we stop by the kitchen, I'll probably stop there while Diane and Sam finish the inspection. Is that fine with everyone?"

Sean and Mew looked at each other. "Yep, it shouldn't be a problem. As to your previous question, we'd like to see the entire police station before we see the cells, especially if you have any footage of any recent interviews you've given to suspects."

The receptionist nodded. "Err….yeah. Well, I need to return to the front, so I'll call one of the other officers to lead you around, if that's fine with you." He stuck his head down a corridor. " Hoy! Mish! Come over here!" He yelled. "We got some tourists for you to lead around!" Turning back to Lucas, Sean and Mew, he smiled. "Mishaal is one of the 5 shift officers working here at this early hour. I'm sure he'll be happy to lead you around."

_'Oh good, so that's 5 officers plus the receptionist to worry about. We can handle 6 people.'_ Lucas thought.

"Sure." Mew replied.

* * *

><p>Morgan dozed in Sonya's lap as the latter watched Firael launch another flamethrower attack at the cage wall, more out of boredom than anything else. Opposite Sonya, Rai was lying on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Space was now at an extreme premium and everyone was getting a little testy.<p>

Suddenly, something clicked in Sonya's head.

"Guys! I think I might know a way we can get out!"

Rai snorted and didn't move. Morgan, however, stirred and sat up, squeezing into a seated position beside Sonya. "Really? How?"

"Well, you know how I tried to get Rai to melt through the wire mesh by using the resistance of the mesh against it?"

"Yeah, apparently it didn't work because the resistance of the mesh was too low, or something."

Sonya nodded. "It was, but I've just remembered that we have a way to raise the resistance of the mesh. Heat."

"Oh?" Morgan cottoned on. "So you say we try the same thing again, but with Firael heating up the area as well?"

"Yep. With only Rai, I'd hoped that the small initial heat generated by the heat would raise the initial resistance so that we got a positive feedback loop that would eventually snowball into melted wire, just like how fuses work. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, since the heat was dissipated too quickly. However, if the initial resistance is artificially raised using Firael's fire attacks, we might be able to get such a loop going and melt the wire."

Morgan blinked. "I'm going to pretend I just understood all of that and nod knowingly at you. How does that sound?" With that, Morgan proceeded to knowingly nod at Sonya.

"I'm sorry, I sometimes get caught up in my explanations." Sonya replied, a rueful expression on her face. "Do you guys think we should try? We might as well."

Firael was nodding enthusiastically but Morgan held up a hand, putting the other on Sonya's shoulder. "Wait. Before we try, let's try to be smart about this and plan out what we do if we get out, yeah? We only get one shot."

"Good point. So what happens when we get out?"

Morgan started counting off her fingers. "First, we need to disable the camera in this room. Secondly, we need to get out of the room that the cell is inside. Then, we need a way to get to where all our stuff has been kept. Finally, we need a way out."

"Huh. That's a lot of stuff."

* * *

><p>"Right, I think I'll just stop here while you three continue with the inspection." Lucas yawned as he slumped into one of the cushy chairs in the kitchen area. "I really need some coffee."<p>

"Do what you wish, Champion." Mishaal deadpanned. The dark-skinned policeman that was acting as their tour guide had been relatively taciturn and quiet as he showed them around. As soon as he left, Lucas shut the door befor letting Rynka and Lear out. As soon as Morgan's bellossom and his gallade had gotten his bearings, Lucas gave them a quick briefing - everyone already knew the rough plan, but it never hurt to make sure.

"Right, there are 6 people in this building we need to knock out. One is with Sean and Mew, so we don't have to worry about him. One is at the reception desk, so you can probably worry about him last. I saw two in the main office, so again, go after them after you find the other two."

After receiving confirmation from both pokemon, Lucas opened the door and let both of them out. Once that was done, he rubbed his eyes and yawned again. "Right, now let's try out some coffee!"

* * *

><p>Janelli Serza had not been having a good day at her job. She'd been slapped on the early morning shift again, not because she was being punished, but because the head of the police department had a grudge against her after the noodle incident.<p>

_'I hate doing this shift'_ She thought while packing some police uniforms into a locker in the locker room. '_I'm just stuck doing grunt work in the early hours of the morning because nothing happens this early...'_

Her train of thought was interrupted when the door to the locker room opened to reveal a gallade and a bellossom dragging one of her unconscious colleagues into the room. The bellossom seemed to be puffing out a lot of golden powder as she sashayed into the room with the legs of the policeman.

"Hey! You can't do that to Rick!" Janelli said, taking a short step towards the two pokemon. However, as soon as she neared the bellossom, she started to feel woozy.

"Ugh, I hate this shift. What are you two doooinng? If only I could fasjd alkjsdfhdsa….."

* * *

><p>"So these are the detainment cells." Mishaal said as he led them into a small corridor. On both sides lay several cells, all closed off by a barred door. "We have eight in this police station, although we rarely have more than one full at the same time. I can show you inside them if you would like."<p>

"That would be most kind of you." Mew smiled sweetly at him.

As Mishaal turned towards the nearest cell and started fumbling with the lock, Mew turned to Sean and winked at him. Sean took a few steps past Mishaal and silently let out his meditite.

"There." The unsuspecting policeman stood up and pushed the door open just as a fist cannoned into the back of his head. He crumpled like a rusty table (which is to say, not very much at all).

"Nice work!" Mew told Sean. "We'll just lock him up in one of these cells and see how Lucas is doing."

* * *

><p>"That's two down. Your sleep powder combined with stun spore crazy. Remind me never to get you angry on a windy day. I haven't had to do anything yet!" Lear remarked to Rynka as they looked at the two unconscious policemen at their feet. For good measure, Rynka threw out a little more powder before they headed for the office.<p>

"Turns out I'm a better ninja than you, haha!" The bellossom laughed. "I think it'd be better if I took the two policemen in the office out myself as well, since I can sneak around by going between the desks and use the air conditioning to circulate my spores. You can take the receptionist."

The gallade bowed. "I am eternally grateful for your generosity."

Rynka preened herself. "Yes, well, let it not be said that I wasn't willing to share."

* * *

><p>"Well, I've got a decent idea for how we can move around the Galactic base without attracting too much attention, but we're going to have to ambush some grunts to pull it off." Sonya said after a few minutes of deliberation. "Still, that kind of disguise isn't going to stand under close scrutiny. Most people here know what I look like."<p>

"Don't worry, they'll be distracted." At this point, Morgan realised that Sonya didn't know her name, let alone the reason why she was in Galactic's base. "My name's Morgan, by the way. I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet.

"My name is Sonya. I'm a- how did you know that they're going to be distracted?"

_'Oh, THAT Sonya. Well, this is rather interesting. I don't think is the time to tell her about Jirachi...it'll only complicate matters.'_ Morgan shrugged. "You're just going to have to trust me. A bigger problem is that it sees us getting out of the cage, we're kinda screwe- oh, what is it, Fireal?"

The charmeleon had started tugging at Morgan's foot. Once Firael had Morgan's attention, she pointed at the camera and blew out several puffs of smoke before covering her eyes.

Sonya quickly joined the dots together. "Smokescreen! That's brilliant! The best part is that Firael's already been filling the room up with smoke since she's been hurling flamethrower attacks at the cage so often, which means they won't suspect if we fog up the room! Okay. So we can get the camera out of the way with smoke to fog it up, then we melt our way out. Then what?"

Morgan spoke. "We can use the toilet button to get those two grunts over and ambush them when they enter. As long as Firael keeps the upper part of the room filled with smoke, the camera won't see a thing. Then we can take their clothes, keys and lock them in our cells."

"After that, all we need to do is find our stuff and get out! Brillant!"

* * *

><p>When he heard a knocking at the door, Lucas got out of his chair and opened it to find Rynka and Lear staring balefully at him.<p>

"So, how did it go? You got everyone?"

Both nodded.

"Sweet! Let's round up all the bodies and put them in the cells. Then we can look for the entrance. After that, the fun really starts. Their coffee is actually really good."

* * *

><p>Sean and Mew had found the two bodies in the office when they ran into Lucas, Lear and Rynka, the first two each carrying or dragging a body behind them.<p>

"Well, this all seems to have gone perfectly to plan, Mew said as she briefly transformed back into her true form. "You guys lock everyone up. I'll keep Celebi and Palkia updated."

* * *

><p>After hearing Morgan and Sonya flesh out the details of their plan, Firael turned to Rai and elbowed him in the ribs.<p>

"C'mon, we've got to do this. Were you listening?"

"Of course I was. Don't exactly have much to do now, do I?" Came the testy reply. Rai got on all fours before brushing himself off, more out of habit than anything else.

"Jeez, what's with the attitude?"

Rai shrugged. "I've already tried this achieved barely anything, and it took a lot out of me. It's probably not going to work." Firael cuffed him. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Rob, if you're going to do nothing but whine, then can you let Rai in for these few minutes? I don't particularly care about your thoughts on Sonya's plan unless you've got something better. We've got nothing to lose by doing this, and if you're going to let your selfishness get in your way, I'd rather work with Rai."

"How'd you know it was me?" The raichu said before quickly shaking his head. "Never mind. I...I'll do it. Just give me the command and I'll do it."

Firael gave him a smile. "It'll just be like old times, huh."

Rob smiled back, but Firael could tell it didn't extend to his eyes, which were hollow and had a haunted look about them. "Yeah, just like old times….working together."

"Hey, I- I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. Let's do whatever Sonya wants us to do."

* * *

><p>It turned out that the hidden entrance was right under Lucas' feet the whole time. Moving the coffee machine revealed a handhold in the bench (much like a flat car handle). When pulled, the bench slid out, revealing a small staircase leading down.<p>

"Well, I guess I could have saved us some time, but how was I to know?" Lucas had exclaimed upon tracing Morgan's GPS trail to the coffee machine.

Mew grabbed her head with both paws in fustration. "Maybe you could have used your free time to look for the entrance?"

"Yeah but…."

"Actually," Sean intervened. "That wouldn't have been the best idea. What if someone walked in on him? No harm was done, really, and Lucas got some free coffee, which can't be a bad thing."

"Mostdefinitelynot!"

Mew sighed. "Okay, let's go down. I'll transform into an arceus once we're down there and we'll blast this place apart." She said, before promptly descending into the base, Lucas closely following, leaving Sean standing at the top all by himself.

"Yeah, sure! I do this every other week." Sean quipped.

* * *

><p>"Okay Firael, let's start." Sonya nodded at Firael, who summoned a slow burn inside her before blowing a lot of smoke through her nose. Within a minute, the top of the room was filled with a thick haze.<p>

"That should be enough."

Firael grunted in reply and prepared a flamethrower, feeling a burgeoning flame build up within her, getting stronger and stronger. When she couldn't hold it in any longer, she let it out, feeling her throat warm up comfortably as the flames rushed out of her jaws. Like the other times she had unleashed a flamethrower at the cage wall, the cage mesh started turning a cherry red, but on her own, Firael couldn't get her flame hot enough to turn the mesh bright orange,whereupon she figured a steel claw would have been enough to break through it with enough effort.

"Okay Rai. Your turn." Beside her, Firael could make out the vaguely yellow shape of Rob as he unleashed the electrical charge that he had been holding in reserve. A thin trail of lightning appeared in the air between Rob and the cage as Rob began working on alternating the direction of the current as quickly as he could.

Nothing was happening.

_'This is going to break Rob if it doesn't work...'_ Firael thought. Then, slowly, it seemed as though the wires might have gotten a little brighter. And brighter. As the process started snowballing, everyone could see that the wires were heating up at a steadily increasing rate again.

"It's working! Yes!" Morgan cried out as she and Sonya slowly baked in the slowly rising heat of the cage, rivulets of sweat running down her head.

However, Rob was struggling to keep up. Firael realised that the raichu wasn't going to last much longer, so she stopped her flamethrower attack (Sonya had explained to her earlier that it wouldn't be required past a certain point) focused hard on her claws, pushing a little...something into them. As they started glowing silver, she took one step towards the glowing web and slashed at them, scoring her claws off the wire. Again. And again. After several strikes, she could feel the wires starting to give, which hardened her resolve. She renewed her efforts, striking faster and harder at the mesh.

Suddenly, a break in the mesh. Firael inwardly rejoiced, but knew that the job wasn't over yet - they needed a large enough cut so that Firael and Rob could fit through. Slashing perpendicular to the cut, Firael started achieving more and more breaks. Once she felt she had opened a long enough slash in the cage, she stopped her blows and started pulling on the mesh, ignoring the immense heat of the bright orange wires on her claws. Bracing herself against her feet, she pulled..hard.

Behind her, Rob collapsed in a heap of small convulsions, having given all that he had to give. Knowing that she was now racing against time as the mesh cooled, Firael continued working on the hole she was making-

Finally, some luck, a large portion of mesh, about the size of her head, snapped off. Throwing it out of the cage (lest anyone else get burned by the metal). Firael moved to another part of the cage and mentally prepared her sore paws. It was going too slowly.

"That should be enough...Morgan, pass me the water, won't you?" Sonya got one of the bottles of water that they had been given for dinner the night before and opened the cap before throwing it at the cage. A loud hissing started up as the metal quickly cooled down while Sonya frantically tried to get as much water on the metal as possible.

"Pass me another one! Quick!" Firael could only stare as Morgan wordlessly passed Sonya another bottle, before taking their third and last bottle and following Sonya's actions.

_'What are they doing? The hole is nowhere near large enough for anyone to fit through!'_ Firael thought.

"That should be enough. Sonya suddenly said as she dropped her second empty bottle, before gingerly raising a finger to the edge of the hole and lightly touching the wires, which had cooled down by now. "Yep, they're room temperature now."

"Why did you do that?" Morgan was now holding half a bottle of water and gesturing wildly at the whole. "That whole is nowhere near large enough for any of us to fit through! I don't think Rai has it in him for another go anytime soon, and we'll be caught with a small hole in our cage."

"It's not over yet." Sonya muttered. She then grabbed the edge of the hole with both hands and started pulling back with all her weight.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, another large chunk of mesh snapped off.

_'What.'_ Firael thought, nonplussed. _'The cage was a lot more sturdier than that when I was working on it….'_

Sonya grinned. "Well, don't just sit there staring! Help me out!"

Stoked into action, Morgan jumped up and started scrabbling at the hole, snapping small bits off at a time while Firael slinked to the back of the cage and poured the last of the water over her hands. _'Ooooh that feels good. Never thought I'd say that about water….'_

In the space of a minute, the hole was large enough to easily fit Firael and Rai. While resting and waiting for the raichu to wake up. Sonya stared at it with a critical eye, frowning. "It's definitely enough for Firael and Rob, but it's going to be a tight fit for Morgan and I."

"Nevermind that!" Morgan replied with a laugh. "How did you manage to get the cage to fall apart like that?"

Sonya wagged a finger at Morgan. "Ah, it was something I thought of when I saw Rai and Firael heat up the cage. You see, metal is naturally pretty flexible, especially as a wire mesh, so when I whack this part of the cage," Sonya punched an unheated part of the cage. "There's a bit of give, which makes it really hard to just punch your way out. Sharp objects don't work so well either since a thin mesh is really strong, although you have a better chance of using that instead of blunt force."

Morgan had a confused look on her face. "Yeah, so?"

"However," Sonya emphasised. "If metal is heated to a high temperature and then quickly cooled, it essentially makes the steel harder, which is what we want."

"What? Why do you want it to be harder? Isn't that, you know, harder to break?" Morgan's look of bewilderment intensified.

"Actually, you'd be wrong. It's easier because it's so brittle. A toothpick is easy to break because it's brittle. A normal wire is very difficult to break because it isn't brittle - you just bend it. With this mesh, it was proving difficult to bend because it was pretty hard, but it still had some give in it, as you can see when Firael managed to bend it before a piece snapped off. However, if you heated that same wire up and then dipped it in water, it would be really easy to snap. Like pencil lead."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. So the water was meant to cool the metal down so it would be easier to snap?"

"That's about it. The process is called quenching. I only went for it because I didn't think Firael would be able to make a big enough hole for herself and Rai, so I decided to take a risk. If we hadn't cooled the metal down quickly enough, it wouldn't have been brittle enough for us to snap and you would have been yelling very loudly at me."

Morgan was nodding now. "Yeah. Really _really_ loudly. Still, it worked, so we have you to thank. How do you know all this stuff?"

Sonya raised an eyebrow. "I'm a scientist. That's my job."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah so I started this chapter intending to release two chapters at once with the story at [redacted]. Unfortuantely, if I were to do that, both chapters would be 12k words long and that's too long, so it looks like we'll be heading a bit past the 40 chapter mark. It's not like I've found new stuff that needs to be said, but I've been trying to flesh my writing a little and I keep underestimating how many words a 'scene' takes to write. That last one was 3 pages long! <strong>

**About that last scene - I apologise if it doesn't work like that, but I'm almost certain that at high temperatures an AC current can cause a wire to heat up faster than the raising resistance of the wire due to the higher heat. I know it works for really thin wires (hence fuses), but in the case of a mesh….poetic licence applies? With quenching, it should work, but there's a bit of a difference between dipping metal in water and splashing it with water, so again I don't know if it's 100% accurate, but if you're looking for that you're on the wrong website. I'm not a metallurgist, so it's all you're going to get from me. I was originally going to have Sonya give a more detailed explanation, but I don't think anybody actually cares and you can google quenching if you're really interested.**

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: It's no fair! I wanted to be the ninja!<strong>

**Firael: You suck too much to be one. That's why you're in the back seat.**

**Rush: You just mad because you aren't a badass like me.**

**Firael: If I recall correctly, Lucas gave the two of you the same job?**

**Rush: Yeah but I'll do it with style.**

**Firael: And exactly how do you plan to watch Lucas' back 'with style'?**

**Rush: 360 noscope staring!**

**Firael: ...what. And how do you plan to ramp up the style if you need to do so?**

**Rush: STARING INTENSIFIES.**


	39. YOU HAVE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD

**DISCLAIMER: Since I'm irresponsible, I'm not responsible for those responsible for the extra chapters; such responsibility is only extended in response to responsible management of chapter lengths.**

* * *

><p>Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, Lucas quickly set about releasing all the pokemon he had on hand. Within a few seconds, his entire team, Steven, Rush and Morgan's pokemon were all blinking owlishly in the artificial light.<p>

Hearing footsteps behind him, Lucas' tense nerves caused him to frantically whirl around, only to find Sean nonchalantly strolling down the staircase before stopping when he saw Lucas staring at him.

"What?"

Lucas shook his head in a fruitless effort to ease the flutterings in his mind. "Nothing. Get your pokemon out and we'll form up. Put all our pokemon at the front except for both our skarmories; they'll watch the flanks like we discussed." He then turned to Steven, Rush and Morgan's pokemon. "You guys watch the back and call out if you see anyone coming at us. Hmm...actually….I think we'll be fine with just the birds watching the back. Rynka and Adele can help with support fire. Your ranged attacks will be useful since neither Sean nor my pokemon have a lot of range. Are-"

"What the-!" A shout behind Lucas spun him around. Two grunts had spotted them. Lael had reacted quickly, Sean's lucario now tackling the first grunt to the ground, but the second had already turned tail and had rounded a corner. Already having made short work of the first, Lael then stood up, blue shimmering paws by her side. Sean shook his head. "We can't chase him since we need to stay together. I don't think any of us expected to stay hidden for long anyway."

Mew, now disguised as Arceus, spoke up. **_"Celebi says that we're at the right height below the ground - we just need to head roughly north-west from our current position before we reach the place where Jirachi is being kept. It's about five hundred metres away in a direct line, so we've got a bit of a walk ahead of us. I too can provide ranged support."_**

"Woah, you really do sound like Arceus." Lucas laughed. "Alright, let's go. Eyes open everyone!"

* * *

><p>Saturn was woken up by the ringing of the phone by his bedside table. He quickly answered it.<p>

"It's Saturn."

"Sir! We've received reports of a break-in at the South East wing! 2 humans, about a dozen pokemon and a large white….horse-thing?"

Saturn couldn't resist a slight curl to his lip. 'So predictable.'

* * *

><p>Saturn spoke quickly as he paced. "Marshal the grunts and get them to stage a slow retreat towards the Inner Sanctum and the Containment Chamber. Try not to get anyone killed. Wake Nikolai and tell him that he has been ordered to head to the Containment Chamber and prime the cannons. He'll know what I'm talking about. I will meet him there in 10 minutes."<p>

Rynade cocked his head in confusion. "Sir, you don't want us to try pushing them back?"

"Definitely not! That...'white horse-thing' is extremely powerful - we have a trap set up for it in the Containment Chamber. Make sure they head there!"

"Sir!"

* * *

><p>"Hmmmmmf! My god, Firael, you're a lot heavier than I remember!" Morgan grunted as she helped Firael clamber through the hole they had created. Once Firael had made it through (and not looking too happy about it), Morgan passed Rai (who was still unconscious) through the hole.<p>

"Char!"

Sonya chuckled. "She's just kidding. Could you give us a little more smoke, Firael? Alright Morgan, let's get you through….Oooof! Now you're a lot heavier than you look! Nearly…..there!"

"That," Morgan stood up, brushed herself off, breathed in a lungful of smoke and promptly ducked back down, " akkk….I forgot about the smoke. That, Sonya, was not funny."

Sonya pointed at Firael, who was grinning madly at them. "She seems to think so, and so do I. I'm afraid you've been outvoted."

Morgan stared daggers at both of them and snatched the remote. "Hmpf! You guys are no fun! Let's just get out so I don't have to spend time with you guys ever again! Forever!"

"That's a tautology."

"A what? Nevermind, I don't care." Morgan huffed as she punched the button.

"You seem flustered. That's good, you can take your anger out on the grunts when they come."

"You aren't helping!" Morgan's feet promptly got covered in soot as Firael barked out a short burst of laughter, before choking on her breath and doubling over.

"Neither are you! None of this is funny!" Morgan sulked.

* * *

><p>"Ston, watch the right corridor!" Steven heard Sean yell while he quickly flew under a fireball. It had been hard to get a decent view of what was going on in front of them, but there didn't seem to be that much fighting. The grunts were just asking their pokemon to throw out a barrage of ranged attacks while slowly giving up ground under the protection of multiple protect barriers being cast. There had been no attempts at flanking and Sean's fighting pokemon had seen very little action apart from spamming whatever ranged attacks they had forwards.<p>

Galactic's strategy had been proving extremely effective, having already taken Skiera out of the battle, Sean's skarmory having taken the brunt of the attacks. Soon after Skiera fainted, Sean had figured out a way that helped them avoid a lot of the damage. Calling his bronzong over to cast trick room over the entire battle had allowed the frontline pokemon to dodge a lot of the damage coming their way, but it made for confusing progress.

Unfortunately, this meant that Sonata, Rush and Steven had to hang back some distance, as they had discovered it was virtually impossible to fly under trick room conditions because trick room also slowed their wings. Another problem that this presented was that a lot of the projectiles, having been dodged by everyone in front of them, were now threatening to hit them. Rush and Steven had already nearly been hit by the same Ice beam, crashing into each other as they tried to get out of the way, and Sonata was looking a little worse for wear after some bullet seeds clipped his underbelly.

"You know, this isn't how I expected this to turn out." Rush commented as all three of them swooped under a cloud of smog left behind by some poison pokemon.

Sonata briefly veered off to one side to dodge some leaf blades, edges glimmering as they whistled past him. "I don't know what I expected, but we're in real trouble of getting left behind."

* * *

><p>As she was making her way towards the Inner Sanctum, Saturn's phone began ringing. 'Odd, who would be calling me at this time of day?'<p>

"Good morning, Saturn." Saturn didn't need an introduction to recognise Giovanni's gravelly voice. 'Oh, him. This could be interesting.'

"Morning, Giovanni. Might I ask you why you're calling at such an auspicious time?"

"I have received reports that current arrangements might not be proceeding as we had agreed. Specifically, I'd like to learn more about the legendary pokemon you've captured."

Saturn grinned. 'This is going to be good.' "Unfortunately, I fail to see how I've violated our agreement. It only stated that I should inform you if we've found mew or mewtwo. This has not happened."

"I….see. That seems to have been an oversight on my part. Perhaps we could renegotiate?"

"It might be in my interests to do so. Regardless, I would be an ungracious host if I didn't invite you in after such a long trip from Kanto. I'll send someone after you in a bit, but we're currently dealing with a bit of a delicate internal matter at the moment."

"How so?"

"The pokemon champion is trying to get the legendary back."

"Mmhmm. I hope that doesn't inconvenience you for too long."

"Thank you for your...concerns. Someone will be up in twenty or so minutes when the matter is dealt with." With that, Saturn put his phone away and entered the Inner Sanctum. "Nikolai! Have you primed the cannons yet?"

After a few moments, Nikolai shuffled out of the Containment Chamber. "Yes, sir. They'll hit anything that isn't 3 metres from a wall or Jirachi's cage. I thought I'd give us somewhere safe to stand and watch."

"Good initiative. I'll need you by the door to ensure nobody leaves before the trap is set off."

"Sir."

"Oh, send someone to get some tea and biscuits, will you?"

"Err, what, sir?"

"Giovanni is outside. Once this lot is dealt with, I plan on renegotiating a new agreement between Giovanni and I"

"I see. I'll get to it now."

_'Giovanni isn't going to have anything to bargain with by the time he gets here. Once I get Arceus, perfection awaits. We'll be negotiating terms of surrender.'_

* * *

><p>A muffled explosion penetrated through the wall of protect-screens before knocking Souya and Gabon off their feet. Grunting as another grunt landed on his chest, Gabon pushed the disorientated grunt off him and clambered to his feet. "Souya! Get anyone who's still standing and call them back! We'll hold round the next corne-" Gabon dropped flat as a hissing blade of air slashed where his head had originally been. Looking forwards, he saw that his pokemon had been knocked out by the exertion of keeping a prolonged protect screen up. Still on his stomach, he recalled his pokemon before quickly backing his way down the rest of the corridor, stumbling in the flickering light.<p>

Souya came round soon after. "We lost another 3 people back there. I don't think those trainers are trying to kill, but you can't tell. They're using something that messes with the speed of all the stuff we throw at them, so we haven't really dented their numbers since one of the skarmories dropped out. How much longer do we have to hold for?" The last question was directed at Rynade, who was standing behind Gabon.

"Not much longer. We can start falling back a little quickly if needs be."

Suddenly, Gabon felt a buzzing in his pocket. "Oh it's one of the prisoners. They need a toilet break. I've got no pokemon left."

Rynade had understood the implication, although it didn't mean he had to like it. "Fine. Souya, you have any pokemon left?"

She shook her head. "My umbreon is still technically conscious, but he could barely stand when I recalled him."

"Fine. You two go and do whatever you need to go do." Rynade waved the two of them off. "Don't die."

* * *

><p>Lael couldn't help but feel a little smug as her aura sphere broke the golden barrier that had been protecting most of the Galactic forces. The resulting detonation knocked everyone back a step, but Lael knew the job had been done. To her right, Wyvil swiped her right wing across her midriff, sending an air slash down the corridor which nearly hit one of the grunts.<p>

"Nice aim."

"Quiet, you!" The skarmory snapped. "I wasn't aiming for him!"

"Well, you sure gave that back wall a real beating!"

"It's all about, um."

"Um what?" Lael watched as Wyvil meticulously bent a wing feather back into place before replying.

"Sending a message." Wyvil puffed out her chest. "I let him off with a warning."

* * *

><p>Lying beside Isrea under Patrick's bed, Aron scratched his nose. "I wonder how everyone's going. I sure hope Morgan hasn't done anything stupid."<p>

Isrea yawned. "Like what?"

Aron shrugged. "Like trying to go after us."

"Yeah, that'd be pretty stupid", Isrea chuckled.

* * *

><p>"You know, Umby wasn't nearly unconscious." Gabon said as he walked to Sonya's room.<p>

Souya briefly stopped in her tracks before starting off again. "Of course not! I just don't feel like getting hit by one of those air slashes that skarmory was throwing out, like the one that nearly got you. I'd rather be here," she pointed at herself, "than over there," before jabbing a thumb behind her.

"Don't worry, I feel the same! The champion's pokemon are absolutely brutal, and that horse thing…"

"Yeah," Souya had reached the door that held Sonya's cage and swiped her card in the provided slot. "It's attacks were like sledgehammers. Nearly brought down one of the corridors, although I think that made it stop attacking unless it absolutely had to." The door slid open and the two grunts were too slow to stop themselves from taking a deep breath of the smoke that came barrelling out.

Gabon choked. "Holy mother of mew is it smoky in here! Hoy!" He called out. "What has that charmeleon of yours done? You decided to eat someone? Because that's illegal. You could go to jail for that!"

Silence. Souya squinted into the murky grey depths of the room. "What's going on?" Turning to Gabon, she muttered, "look, I think something's wrong here..."

"Help!" The feeble call got Souya's attention. "The charmeleon...she went crazy and tried…" The voiced stopped for a few hacking coughs. "She tried to burn the place down!" We had to physically knock her out, but there's just so much smoke…."

"Oh god…" Souya said. The two of them stepped past the thresholds-

"Rai...CHUUU!"

* * *

><p>"That was some quick thinking on your behalf there, Morgan." Sonya said after hearing the twin thuds of bodies hitting the floor. On her stomach, under the haze of smoke, Sonya and Morgan then made their way to the unconscious grunts and started stripping them of their clothes.<p>

"It was a spur of the moment thing. I could tell they didn't quite buy it, but hey, it worked!" Morgan grunted as the two of them successfully pulled the second jumpsuit off it's owner.

"That it did." Sonya cheerily replied as she struggled into the Galactic jumpsuit on the floor while Firael and Rai watched on.

After a few minutes of struggling with a particularily troublesome zipper, Sonya and Morgan finally managed to look passable as Galactic grunts.

"Right. Now these two can just go into one of the other cages, Here, Morgan, help me out here. Make sure you have their identification cards before throwing them in though; we need those to lock the cage and move around the base."

"Yeah, got it." Morgan grabbed the male grunt's legs as Sonya held him under his armpits before lifting. "After this, we go for our gear, right? Gods, this smoke is bad."

Throwing the first grunt in, Sonya shook her head. "That was originally what my plan was, but I think I've got a slight detour for us to make first. Just grab her feet like the last one. Yep."

Morgan and Sonya lifted the second grunt. "What detour?"

"Well, I don't think this smoke will last for very long, so I feel as though we should pay the security room a small visit first; knock out the security guard who watches the cameras. Besides, after we get your gear, we're going to look pretty conspicuous on camera."

The second grunt was thrown on top of her partner. Morgan slammed the gate shut with a satisfying clang before lying back down on the ground where the breathable air was. "So what's your plan?"

Sonya coughed before joining Morgan back on the floor. "I thought we'd get some food and drinks and knock asking if they wanted some. We go in and Rai does to them what he did to these two poor souls."

"Sounds good, but what do we do with Rai and Firael? We're going to look really suspicious with these two trailing us."

"Good question." Sonya scrunched up her face. "Maybe we could hide them in our clothes and bundle them up so they look like piles of clothes?"

"It...doesn't sound like that good of an idea….but we don't have anything else we can go for, do we?"

* * *

><p>A deep boom jerked Jirachi back into consciousness. Struggling to get enough air to breathe, the wish pokemon tried to unscramble her thoughts.<p>

She opened her eyes and immediately regretted doing so. Smears of white light assaulted her eyes, fading into coloured spots when she squeezed them shut. The air seemed thick, lifeless, and the pain in her chest had slowed to a deep burn.

Jirachi just lay there, chest heaving.

Waiting for something, anything, to happen.

* * *

><p>Inside the Inner Sanctum, Rynade recalled his murkrow before diving away from a jet of water from the empoleon across the no man's land. "Everyone! Fall back! Into the Containment Chamber!"<p>

Not many grunts seemed to have heard him, but some started slowly filtering past the large threshold into the murky darkness inside. Saturn had decided to turn the lights off so as to better utilize the element of surprise. Taking a deep breath, Rynade tried again.

"EVERYONE! FALL BACK NOW!"

This had a more immediate effect. Rynade allowed himself a small grin as his shout effected a full scale retreat. The effect of Lucas' pokemon had affected his decision to effect a change in his original, more effective plan.

Realising that he was one of the last grunts outside the Containment chamber, Ryande turned tail and hurried past the threshold. As he did so, he heard the doors start rumbling, slowly closing.

* * *

><p>It was with a bit of a shock that Morgan realised Sonya's detour had actually legitimised their disguise. Grunts and other Galactic personnel barely spared them a glance now that it looked like they were doing something instead of aimlessly wandering around with oddly shaped bundles of clothes. Sonya walked in front of her, now carrying both Firael and Rai in their respective bundles. They reached a door which Sonya tapped with her foot. Morgan spoke up (the two of them agreed it would be a good idea if Sonya didn't speak for fear of being recognised). "Hey, anyone in there? We were passing by with some laundry from the prison cells and thought you might like some coffee!"<p>

After a moment, a husky voice replied. "Coffee? That sounds amazing, but shouldn't you be helping out against that group of trainers invading our base?"

Ignoring Sonya's stricken look, Morgan's mind raced. "We could, but all our pokemon got knocked out and we got buzzed by the prisoners. Someone has to keep the place running, right?"

"Yeah, someone's got to watch the cameras, don't they? I'm glad I'm not down there." Muffled footsteps were heard as Sonya heard the man fumble with the locking mechanism on the door. As it slid open, Sonya dropped both bundles on the ground, pulling away the clothes to reveal Firael and Rai.

"SurpRAAAAAAIse!" Sonya chuckled as the man dropped like a sack of bricks.

Morgan shook her head in disgust. "That was a horrible pun. By the way, good job there, Rai. You too, Firael."

"You know you liked it. Here, help me out with the body. We'll stow him inside that cabinet in the control room. After this, we go get our stuff!"

* * *

><p>Sean's eyes widened as he realised the doors in front of them began to close. "The doors are closing!"<p>

Lucas nodded. "Everyone inside, now!"

* * *

><p>While Morgan and Firael were busy wedging a chair under the handle of the cabinet holding the unconscious security guard, Sonya was looking at the camera feed, Rai perched on her shoulders.<p>

"Hey Morgan, you should see this."

* * *

><p>Saturn nodded to Nikolai. "Good. Nice and slow. Fire those cannons when I give the order."<p>

"Sir."

* * *

><p>Rush, Steven and Sonata had fallen behind. Rush had been struck dead centre by an ice beam he had failed to avoid. This small delay had caused the three bird pokemon to lose touch with the main group. As Rush labouriously tried to keep pace with Steven and Sonata, the three entered the Inner Sanctum only to see Sean's meditite, Grover, slip through the door as he pushed Sean's bronzong through.<p>

They were stranded.

* * *

><p>"Yeah, that's Lucas, Sean and Mew who are trying to break in. They're trying to rescue Jirachi." Morgan walked over and looked at the screen Sonya was pointing at. "I'm sure they'll handle themselves just fine. Let's go! We need to go get our stuff."<p>

"Wait what? The champion? You have a lot to explain!"

Morgan waved her on. "Yes, yes. I'll give you the wrap on the way. Come on!"

Sonya, however, wasn't moving. She continued staring intently at the screen.

* * *

><p>"Lights on."<p>

"Ah!" Lucas had to turn his head away as all the lights in the Containment chamber turned on. Squinting against the glare, he saw Jirachi's cage not thirty metres away in the centre of the room.

His gaze swept left, looking at all the grunts who were pressed back up against the wall.

His gaze swept right, where he saw Saturn standing next to a man in a white overcoat. Saturn had a smug expression on his face and was pointing upwards.

His gaze swung up, seeing the cannons, and Lucas finally realised that they had, in all their naïveté, walked into a trap.

His gaze swung back down, eyes meeting Saturn, a twin exchange of thoughts (Lucas' quite unsavoury at that moment) before the latter snapped his fingers—

"Now."

...and all was white.

* * *

><p><strong><span>This chapter was supposed to be part of the last one, which is why it's so short. I split it off because otherwise the last would have become a behemoth.<span>**

**Firael: I feel as though I didn't do very much this chapter.**

**Steven: You spat some soot onto Morgan's shoe, so that's something. At least you didn't run into an ice beam like a total klutz.**

**Rush: Shaddup.**

**Firael: Yeah, but Rai did all the work knocking people out.**

**Steven: What are you going to do? Your methods are not very quiet. Rush, I'm sure, can testify.**

**Rush: Shaddup!**


	40. The Three Musketeers

**We are in for one hell of a chapter! At least I hope so, since I've been spamming so many cliffhangers recently you could be forgiven for thinking that the story was set in the Himalayas.**

**Disclaimer: The story, is, in fact, not set in the Himalayas.**

* * *

><p>Saturn stood back up and brushed himself off, shaking off some shattered ice crystals that had landed on him after the cannons had fired. Stepping forwards into the white mist (ice that had instantly sublimated upon contact) that had formed around the centre of the room, Saturn tried to make out the results of his trap. Behind him, Nikolai moaned as he clutched at his elbow.<p>

"Nikolai, open the doors. I can't see anything with this infernal mist covering everything." In response, a grinding started reverberating around the chamber as the doors slowly ground back open, the mist pouring out like milk out of a carton, revealing the results of Saturn's machinations to him. The two trainers were mostly obscured - two of their pokemon seemed to have dived on both of them just before the cannons fired.

_'Probably saved their lives, all things considered.'_ Saturn thought. The rest of the invading pokemon lay sprawled out in a rough circle around the two trainers—coats, clothes, feathers and skin all covered in a sparkling layer of ice crystals. Still, Saturn didn't really care about what happened to anyone else. More people to gloat over when the time came, but his ego could take a back seat for now.

_'Ok, maybe not the back seat. Co-driver's seat then.'_

No, what Saturn had eyes for was the large white heap near the front of the frozen formation.

_'Arceus.'_

* * *

><p>"Yeah so I'm actually really really glad that we didn't make it in now." Steven pronounced. The three of them had been circling the Containment Chamber for another way in, but had stopped upon seeing a brilliant flash that had whited out the windows for a split second, leaving them momentarily blinded. The three were now standing underneath a window, occasionally poking a head over the sill to check out proceedings.<p>

"Well it's great that we aren't budding icicles at the moment, but we're kinda screwed right now. What's our plan?" Rush responded. The staravia was still faring poorly from the ice beam attack he had taken several minutes earlier and had been the first to suggest a short break.

"There's no plan. I'm going up to the window to listen to what's being said, but I'm all out of ideas." Sonata said as he took flight.

Steven watched the chatot flap upwards towards the window and press his head against the thick plexiglass. Suddenly, he had an amazingly brilliant idea. "Wait! I've got an amazingly brilliant idea!", he whispered to Rush.

* * *

><p>It only took Saturn a minute to whip the rest of his grunts into obedience. He pointed at a few random grunts. "Alright. You guys! Stay here! Everyone else bar Rynade and Nikolai can leave, but be back in one hour. I will have an announcement to make."<p>

As most of the the grunts slowly filtered out (leaving the disguised mew a very wide berth), Saturn turned towards the remaining grunts, singling three out. "You three are in charge of cleaning up. Grab three cages from anywhere and put these two trainers inside them - leave the cages in here. I want them to see just how badly they managed to mess things up. Make sure you bring three, I'll need one empty." He grinned before continuing. "After that, put all those pokemon in their pokeballs and store them with all our other confiscated equipment. Those strong pokemon are going to be a good addition to our arsenal, but we'll deal with those later." After finishing dealing with the remaining grunts, he turned to Rynade. "Your job is to go fetch Giovanni and invite him in. Still, don't let him enter the Inner Sanctum until Nikolai gives you the all clear. Also, drop the clearance level for both the Inner Sanctum and the Containment Chamber to level 6 and 8 respectively, will you? Nikolai, it's time for us to attempt the ultimate experiment."

With the loose ends wrapped up, Saturn gestured for the remaining seven grunts to follow him as he walked over to mew, still disguised as an arceus. "You seven can help us carry this pokemon into one of Nikolai's labs - he'll tell you which one. After that, you may go."

* * *

><p>Having heard all that was there to be heard, Sonata hopped down to find Steven and Rush arguing.<p>

"That is probably the worst idea I've ever heard!" Rush exclaimed, flapping his wings tenderly, slowly trying to work out his injury.

"It's amazing! You're just jealous you didn't think of it first!" Steven huffed.

Sonata landed between the two and pushed them apart. "Alright guys, what's going on?"

Steven replied first. "Rush is jealous of my amazingly brilliant plan."

"It sucks!"

Sonata shook his head. "Ooookay, Steven. What's the plan?"

Steven perked up. Pointing towards the roof, he started speaking. "Well, you see. All we need to do is go into the air vents and we'll be able to sneak around without anyone knowing!"

Sonata blinked. "That's it?"

"What do you mean, 'that's it?'"

"It's a terrible idea."

"What! Why?"

"Toooold ya." Rush chuckled, off to the side.

"Well, for one, our talons would make a racket if we tried to go up the air vents, but that's not even the start of our problems. We don't know how to get any of the grates open and we don't know where any of the vents lead. We could just end up getting sucked into a fan."

"Well...when you put it that way…."

"It sucks."

"Yeah okay. No need to rub it in." Steven sulked.

* * *

><p>"Well, that certainly changes things." Morgan said. She had doubled back to see what had gotten Sonya so enraptured, and as a result all four of them had seen Saturn's trap in action and the aftermath of said trap. There was no sound carried by the cameras, but they could still almost feel the raw power behind those cannons.<p>

"Yeah, it does. For one, what the hell is going on?" Sonya asked.

"Long story short, Firael's owner and his friend ended up getting caught. That's not that big of a thing except they had Jirachi travelling with them."

"Jir-? Oh. Oh. That's bad." Sonya then pointed an accusatory finger at Morgan. "Why didn't you tell me any of this earlier?"

Morgan paused for a moment. "I...guess I didn't entirely trust you, and I haven't had much of a chance to tell you after we escaped. Besides, it didn't seem that relevant since I thought they were going to pull this off without any problems. Anyway, I got lucky and ran into Lucas, who was going to check out the area for signs of corruption anyway."

Sonya snorted.

"Yeah, so it seems pretty evident now, but we didn't know, okay? So Lucas calls another good trainer over, Sean, to help him out. Arceus gets involved as well and gets Mew, Celebi and Palkia to help get Jirachi out."

"That_ is_ bad. We need to get to where everyone's stuff is stored and make a run for the Containment Chamber. If we get split up, the Containment Chamber is literally in the center of the Inner Sanctum, which is a larger collection of rooms that is also in the center of the base. We'll meet there. If Saturn gets to make a wish to Jirachi…"

Morgan made a face. "Yeah, it's bad. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Rush nodded, deep in thought. "That's actually a really good idea as far as ideas go. Just...go over the bit where I get pummeled to bits again?<p>

Sonata sighed. "Look, it's really simple. You cause a distraction, fly in and get their attention. We sneak into the trolley that the grunts are piling with Sean and Lucas' stuff so that when they get to the store room we surprise them, knock 'em out and we're back in the driver's seat."

"I like this idea." Steven said brightly.

"Of course you would, knowing you. Wanna swap?" Rush snapped back.

Sonata shrugged. "Honestly, you're the largest out of the three of us and you're injured, so you'd be less help in a fight and you'd have a harder time of hiding in the cart."

"Trolley."

"Whatever! You know what I mean!"

* * *

><p>Saturn was regretting his decision to help carry the frozen 'arceus' towards Nikolai's chosen lab room. The cold had numbed his fingers and he could swear that they were turning blue, although that was most likely his imagination. Suddenly, a black smear darted along the edge of his vision. Saturn spun around and dropped his part of the load, shouting "What was that? Get it!" whilst simultaneously rubbing some life back into his hands. He, however, hadn't anticipated everyone obeying his orders so quickly, and was thus punished when everyone dropped the frozen load at the same time and it landed on his foot. Nikolai, who had been fast enough to let go with everyone else, quickly hurried over.<p>

Saturn's curses only made his grunts run faster.

* * *

><p>It took all of Steven's willpower to resist a giggle at Saturn's predicament as they sneaked behind the raging human and his hapless aide, gliding along on silent wings.<p>

Knowing that Rush was going to lead his pursuers out of the Inner Sanctum, Steven and Sonata went the other way into the Containment Chamber. They landed on the pile of confiscated gear and started digging their way in, seeking to become completely covered before Rush got caught. As they clawed at Lucas and Sean's bags, Steven spared himself a glance at Jirachi's cell, where Jirachi was only visible as an unmoving still blob on the flat ground.

_'Oh, Jirachi...'_

Sonata had realised that a better course of action would be to open up one of the bags and clamber in. Steven didn't think he'd fit, so he used his beak to grab both bags to cover himself (earning a disgruntled squawk from Sonata in the process) before pushing all of Sean and Lucas' other bits and pieces around so that he wouldn't be visible from the side on.

All that was left to do was to wait, and so they did. Sonata, curled up in the clustrophobic darkness of a bag where every breath was too loud and Steven, spread-eagled under the weight of two bags, conscious of every millimetre that his chest rose as he tried to calm a racing heart.

Rush didn't last very long. His wingjoints still burned with every flap from his previous injury and the grunts chasing him actually knew the layout of the building. This fact soon proved his downfall as he turned a corner and flew straight into a koffing.

Rush couldn't keep up his pace, coughing and wheezing as he tumbled towards the ground. As he turned around to face upwards, gasping for clean air, he saw the grunt pull out a taser.

* * *

><p>Saturn's phone rang. "Yes?"<p>

"Sir, we have the pokemon. Seems like he was part of the invading group. Subdued him with my taser."

"Good. Tell everyone else to come back and help me get this pokemon to Nikolai's lab. You can return that pokemon to his pokeball and then cart the confiscated stuff to our storage room."

"Sir, all of the pokeballs that we got from the two trainers have already been filled."

Saturn slapped his head in frustration. "Look, just zap him a few more times to make sure he doesn't wake up and throw him in one of the cages in the storeroom then. Use some initiative, for gods sake!"

"Sorry sir."

Saturn hung up. _'Does nobody have any initiative?'_

* * *

><p>'<em>Oof!'<em> Steven's breath was knocked out of him as a heavy weight was thrown on top of him before the trolley moving.

_'That was probably Rush. Hope he didn't get beaten up too badly.'_

* * *

><p>Once Mew's body (still disguised as Arceus) was set on an operating table, Saturn dismissed all the other grunts, telling them to enjoy themselves until he next called a gathering. Once he and Nikolai were alone, Saturn turned his gaze on Nikolai, who could see a hint of fear behind the steely features of the Galactic leader.<p>

"Nikolai, you are sure this works? We haven't tried this on anyone yet."

The scientist nodded. "The transfer between Rob and his raichu was essentially the same thing. All I just have to do is apply the procedure I performed on Rob to both you and Arceus here. Besides, if things do go belly up, you can always use Jirachi to fix things."

Saturn took a deep breath and walked over to an adjacent table. "If you say so. Nikolai?"

"Yes?"

"Arceus is perfection, right? He is the one true god, so he must be perfect, right?"

"I- I'm not sure."

"I seek perfection. If this body is not good enough, I must needs find a better one."

"Yes sir."

"There is only one way to find out. Put me under. When the process is complete, thaw out my new body and throw the previous, human body into the third cage. I want to gloat over Arceus when he's trapped in two cages, twin bars of metal and flesh."

"Very poetic, sir."

"I like to think so myself."

* * *

><p>"Good Morning, Kova! My, is it a surprise to see you here so early! You know, Kova, you don't look too fresh." Kova and Giovanni's moody brooding was brought to a halt upon Rynade's bright entrance, the latter striding into the wating area of the Galactica building as if he owned it.<p>

"Rymade. you bastard…" Kova growled.

Rynade's brisk strides made short work of the distance between him and Giovanni before he held out a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Giovanni. The threat has been dealt with, and so Saturn extends his most cordial welcome."

"I am most pleased to hear this wonderful news." Giovanni's hand smothered Rynade's, and Rynade had to fight back a wince as Giovanni released his vice-like grip.

His hand feeling like it had just come out of a wringer, Rynade grinned, albeit a little less broadly than he had been when he entered the room. "I can lead you to the containment chamber where Jirachi is currently housed, but Saturn is slightly preoccupied."

Giovanni's expression darkened. "What? He still has no time for me?"

Luckly, Rynade had already anticipated this reaction and had accordingly prepared a response. "This...delay was caused by an unexpected development that occurred while we were nullifying the threat. Saturn is getting, er, treatment as we speak."

"Huh," Giovanni grunted. "Wonder how he managed to get himself injured. Didn't seem like something Saturn would do. Come, I am already tired of this room. I do not enjoy the company of silence."

As all three of them made a move to the door, Rynade stopped and held up a finger. "Sorry, but Saturn's invitation was only extended to Giovanni, not you, Kova."

Giovanni didn't bat an eye. "Kova, do as he says."

Fists clenched, Kova could do nothing but sit back down. Rynade held the door open for Giovanni before stepping through himself. Just before he closed the door, he turned around and threw something at Kova. "I'm sure that our secetary will be happy to set you up with a hotel to stay at while Giovanni finalises his business - when she arrives, of course. It really is an ungodly time of day to be up and about. This might help you with the long wait." With that, the door clicked shut. Kova bent down and picked up the object that Rynade had thrown at him.

A blister pack of sleeping pills, six missing.

* * *

><p>Morgan and Sonya had made quick time to the storeroom. Still carrying the (now cold) coffee, Sonya waved her ID card over the reader and the two slid in, Morgan still carrying the bundle of clothes that held Firael and Rai. Once inside the pitch-black room, Morgan let the two pokemon out as Sonya shut the door with a soft click. The only source of light was now Firael's tail flame.<p>

"Err...lights?" Morgan said.

"Oops. I probably should have turned them on…." Sonya felt around the door until she found the appropriate switch. "There we go." She turned around to regard the room with a frown. "There are five rows of cabinets. If I remember correctly, they're just filled up willy-nilly, so we'll have to search through pretty much all the cubby holes to find what we're looking for. I'll start on the left with Firael, and you can start on the right with Rai? That way at least one of us knows what your friends' gear looks like. Firael, just give me a shout if you see something, okay?"

"Char!"

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

><p>"This is the Inner Sanctum." Rynade said as he stepped through the only entrance leading into the Inner Sanctum, Giovanni following closely behind. "This is where our most advanced and secretive research is conducted. It's structured like an annulus, with several labs lining the Containment chamber and a circular walkway diving the two areas."<p>

"May I ask what kind of research is currently being conducted?" Giovanni queried.

Rynade shrugged. "I don't know. You'll have to ask Saturn when he's um, available. Anyway, this is the entrance to the Containment Chamber where Jirachi is stored."

The two walked into the Containment Chamber and slowly approached Jiarchi's cell, Giovanni casually kicking aside some debris from the earlier fight on his way there.

"This cell doesn't look too secure. How are you keeping it locked up?" Giovanni leaned up against the glass and tapped it.

No response.

"We heavily regulate the amount of oxygen that actually enters the cell so that any incarcerated pokemon can never reach a full state of consciousness. It's a remarkably cheap and efficient mode of security as long as the pokemon doesn't know sleep talk."

"Very smart. My, it is a remarkable specimen. May I ask what you plan to do with this pokemon?"

Once again, Rynade shrugged. "You'll have to ask Saturn for that information."

"Ah, I see. Well then, back to square one. Just like this Inner Sanctum, our conversation."

"What do you mean?" That comment had caught Rynade off guard.

"Round and round in circles, a gaping hole in the center. Very well. I am content to wait."

Rynade watched Giovanni aimlessly wander off to another part of the chambers, presumably to observe the captured trainers._ 'He knows something is up and yet he still chooses to play along. What's his game?'_

* * *

><p>Steven shifted uncomfortably as the trolley rattled onwards. He hadn't accounted for the sheer bumpiness of the journey. It didn't help that the grunt was completely tone deaf but didn't know it, whistling a toneless tune that grated against Steven's ears.<p>

_'...are we there yet?'_

* * *

><p>"This one?" Sonya pulled out a backpack and showed it to Firael. It had been a few minutes, and progress was slowly being made. Morgan was already halfway through the second row, but Sonya's progress was much slower, on account of her having to confirm every object with Firael.<p>

"Char." Firael replied, shaking her head.

"Got it!" Morgan exclaimed. Sonya and Firael both headed over to Morgan, who was furiously waving them over.

"You've found everything?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Both bags," Morgan pointed the respective objects out as she spoke, "both sets of pokeballs and all my pokemon!"

Sonya frowned. "How do you know the pokemon are still there? Galactic are pretty slow at dealing with confiscated pokemon, but it never hurts to check."

"Good point. These should hold my chatot and ninetales." Morgan took two of her pokeballs out and released both of them. One of them did nothing, whilst the other let out a beam of red light which slowly transformed into an unconscious ninetales.

"Oh, Adele!" Morgan ran over and knelt down beside her downed pokemon. "We'll fix you up soon, okay?" With a last pat on her ninetales' still flank, she recalled her pokemon and faced Sonya. "Well, that's one of my pokemon. I wonder what happened to Sonata?"

Just then, the door opened and a grunt stomped into the room with a cart, whistling something unrecognisable. He got a few steps into the room before seeing Morgan and Sonya.

"Hey! What are you doin' in here? Ent that there raichu a captive or summat?" He asked, stepping towards them while reaching for his pokeballs. After a few more steps, he halted and squinted at Sonya. "You! Yer that whizknob we locked up. You ain't ment to be here! Guards!" He threw out his pokeballs and made for the door.

* * *

><p>When the cart had first slowed down, Steven had breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the ride was soon to stop. Now all that was left to do was to wait for the grunt to start unloading before he would jump him and surprise the grunt with a steel wing to the head.<p>

_'I'll wait for him to unload before I...unload on him...heh heh. Hang on, what's that?'_ While mulling the moment over, Steven could have sworn he heard a voice speak.

Steven strained his hearing.

"...dell…..ficks...ooon….ay?" The voice was not very distinct, but Steven's avian ears were good enough for him to recognise the person behind it.

_'Is that...Morgan? How did she end up there? I guess that changes things a little. Argh!'_ Steven choked back a yelp as the cart started moving again, but only for a few seconds. It was jerked to a stop and Steven heard the grunt stomp away, shouting at someone whom he assumed was Morgan.

_'I guess now's as good of a time as any.'_ Steven pushed and kicked at the backpack on top of him (ignoring Sonata's muted protests once more) and fought his way out from under Rush's limp body. He was just in time to see the grunt release two pokemon as he turned around to escape and raise the alarm.

Unfortunately for the grunt, Steven was thinking quickly and he lept off the trolley, slamming into the chest of the grunt whilst clawing and pecking like a manic whilst the room exploded into action around him.

"The door! Don't let him escape!" Morgan yelled as the grunt's pokemon materialised. One was a small dark blue humanoid with clear gems for eyes on her oversized head and a red one embedded in her navel. The other was a yellow-and-black striped insect with stinger on his abdomen and two drills attached to it's forelegs.

"Rai, deal with that sableye! Keep it occupied by staying physical! Firael, please roast that beedrill for dinner. I hate beedrill." Morgan subconsciously slipped into trainer mode while Sonya dived past the engaging pokemon, past the struggling grunt (giving him a rap on the head as she passed him), past the trolley, where it seemed yet another pokemon was trying to fight his way out of a backpack, and into the door, slamming it shut.

For a few seconds, all Steven knew was madness, a crazed will to keep clawing, tearing through clothes and into exposed flesh. Then a hand closed around his neck and flung him aside. Steven hit the wall and slid to the ground, slightly dazed.

Near him, Firael hissed in frustration as the beedrill dodged every single one of her attacks without venturing any of his own. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rai attempting to close with the sableye, but she was dodging all of his approaches and responding with quick feint attacks that were slowly tiring out the electric rat.

Suddenly, Morgan gave another order. "Swap targets, now!"

Firael instantly realised what Morgan's plan was and executed it to perfection. While the sableye was still preoccupied with dodging another attack from Rai, she got hit from the side by a meaty fire punch from an airborne charmeleon which sent her reeling. Seeing that Firael was in a good position to finish off the sable eye, Rai switched focus to the confused beedrill, attempting to hit it with thunderbolts (which are a fair sight harder to dodge).

Near the door, the grunt had staggered upright and glanced up.

"YAAAAAAHHH!" Sonya charged at him, with a backpack in both hands, jumped up, and slammed the backpack down on his head. An inexplicable screech was heard, quickly cut off as the backpack made contact with the grunt, who got knocked back down onto the ground by the combined force of the hit and the weight of Sonya careening into him.

Meanwhile, Steven had recovered somewhat and had taken to the air once again, darting out of the sight range of the beedrill in an attempt to surprise the insect pokemon. Over in a corner of the room, Firael had straddled and was mercilessly pummelling the sableye, throwing fire punch after fire punch at her face.

Realising that their pokemon had the sableye and beedrill covered. Morgan saw Sonya and the grunt rolling around on the ground and looked around for something she could do to help. Not really seeing anything of much use, she lined herself up with the grunt, took a short run up, and booted the grunt right in the face.

At the same time, Steven had finally closed with the beedrill, knocking him out of the air with a swipe of his wings across the beedrill's wings, whereupon Rai pounced upon the insect and finished him off with a point-blank thundershock. The acrid smell of burnt insect started filling the air, causing both Rai and Steven to shy away from the smoking pokemon, Rai wrinkling his nose in disgust.

In the ensuing silence that followed, Sonya stood up and daintily brushed herself off. "Well, that was a bit of a mess. We should probably check the rest of the pokeballs we have and revive everyone here before setting off for Jirachi. Wait, where did you come from anyway?" The question was directed at Steven, who had just opened his beak to respond before Sonya interrupted him. "Nevermind...I can't understand you anyway. Gods, I really lost myself there. I didn't know I had it in me to hit someone in the head with anything like that, let alone a bag."

Morgan was examining the bag in question; rather, she was examining the contents of the bag. "Especially considering you knocked him out with my chatot, literally."

Sonya blinked. "I...I did? There was a pokemon in that bag? Oh, and Firael, you can stop punching the poor sableye now; she's been unconscious for the past 10 seconds."

"Chaaaar," Came the forlorn response.

"Yeah. I don't know what he was doing inside Sean's bag, but you reeeally knocked the stuffing out of him with that swing." Morgan was now cradling Sonata in her arms.

"Who? The grunt or your chatot?"

"Yes."

* * *

><p><strong>A short chapter, but one that was still a little longer than I'd expected. The battle scene really did take up a lot of space, which doesn't bode well for the chapter after the next one. Yikes. I tried to keep this one short, but with 3 or 4 different things going on at once, it still ballooned out to over 1.2 thousands words (including the scene where they get discovered). Also, no cliffhanger!<strong>

**Steven: Firael, that was brutal.**

**Firael: Yeah, but it felt _goooood_!**

**Rush: Not if you're on the receiving end, it doesn't.**

**Firael: That's an easy problem to fix.**

**Steven: Hmm?**

**Firael: Simple. Don't get hit.**


	41. Something something shooting star

**EDIT (22 FEB 14): Forgot that Sasha had already evolved into a sandslash. Oops.**

**You guys are going to hate me after this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Maybe.**

* * *

><p>"Right, let's get started. Firstly, we need something to tie this grunt up with." Sonya said.<p>

"Swellow!" Steven replied with a chirp, hopping over to Aron's bag and emptying it of it's contents. Aron's pokeballs, some medical equipment, a master ball and some fishing line all tumbled out.

"Is that….a Master Ball?" Sonya ventured, walking over and picking the pokeball up for a closer look.

"Yeah," Morgan replied without looking. "Aron got it when a friend of his died and left it to him. It doesn't work though; it's already been used to catch a pokemon who was then released later, so it's just a monument to remember his friend by. I don't know too much about it, but you can ask Aron or Isrea about it sometime."

Sonya threw the Master Ball up and down. "Huh, Aron and Isrea have certainly got a habit for attracting trouble wherever they go, eh? Well, we can use the fishing line to tie up that grunt."

Morgan giggled, drawing Sonya's attention.

"What?"

Waving her hand, Morgan laughed it off. "Oh, it's just that there's a funny story behind that fishing line. Isrea had a bit of a 'run-in' with it. Looks like Aron still has a few revives with him. That'll be useful if Sean and Lucas hadn't packed enough." While Sonya started trussing up the grunt, Morgan gathered up every single pokeball (barring the Master Ball, which Steven had collected and returned to Aron's bag) and threw them into the trolley. She then grabbed one at random and released the pokemon inside it.

The frozen body of a lucario materialised. Sighing, Morgan reached out for the first of many revive potions.

_'I've got a lot of work ahead of me...'_

Off to one side, Rai leaned against a wall and stared into the distance with a long sigh.

_'Rai...that was amazing.'_ Rob voiced in his head.

Rai allowed himself a small grin._ 'Full credit that swellow and Firael for helping me take out that sableye and beedrill. They were pretty hard to hit.'_ The swellow who had seemingly come from the trolley was currently talking to Firael; the two looked to be catching up on events.

_'Yeah, but that wasn't the only part of the fight that stood out to me.'_ Rai blinked.

_'Really? I didn't really do anything special in that fight. I just played distraction for both of that grunt's pokemon. What else stood out to you?'_

_'This perspective. I...everything is just so much more...visceral than I had ever thought. When we—you battled, I have to be frank, I saw you guys as resources and developed strategies to use those resources as well as I could, like the baton-passing team we used to run over and over again. I felt that Drats never pulled her weight, so I tried to get her to evolve so that she would become a more useful. I tried to do the best by you, but when my thoughts turned to battling...I just couldn't. I wanted the best for all of us, but in reality, I only wanted the best for me.'_

_'You're being a bit harsh on yourself there.'_

_'I wish I was, but I'm not. I'd frequently questioned myself why you all loved battling so much. After watching—no, feeling this battle, I think I get it.'_

Rai grinned._ 'Well, for me, I just get this rush when I battle. Things seem to slow down, and there's something that I like about taking someone else on one-on-one, mano-a-mano.'_

_'Yeah, but here's the thing. I'd never considered the fact that maybe Drats didn't enjoy that. I didn't recognize that she was, by nature, not a competitive pokemon, and that was where I'd failed as a trainer. I didn't see things from your point of view...for everything I've put you guys through...I'm sorry.'_

Hearing the clacking of talons walking across tile, Rai returned his focus to the world at large. Firael and Steven were heading towards him.

_'Rai, can I have the body for a bit? I need to talk to Firael.'_

_'Sure.'_

Firael had reached the raichu with Steven, and promptly introduced the swellow. "Rai, Rob, this is Steven, one of my current trainer's pokemon. He seems to specialise in pure dumb luck."

Steven gave the charmeleon a slight shove. "Hey, I resent that! I've had my fair share of bad luck!"

"So you don't deny the 'dumb' part then?" Firael grinned. "Anyway, Steven's given me a bit of an update on the situation we saw on those security cameras. Looks like all of Lucas'—" She paused at Rob's reaction, "yes, that Lucas— pokemon and gear is in that trolley, along with the gear of another trainer named Sean. That big pokemon that was with Lucas and Sean? Mew, disguised as Arceus."

"Are you —ing serious?"

Firael sighed. "You still do that pausing thing, even as a pokemon? Yeah, it doesn't look good. They have two legendaries and the pokemon champion under lock and key. Looks like Morgan and Sonya's plan is to revive everyone and just head straight back in to try salvaging the situation. We might have a shot now that we know to watch out for those cannons."

Rob nodded and put a paw on Firael's shoulder. "That's fine. Firael...just...whatever happens, know that even if I somehow get out of this bind," he pointed at himself, "I won't ask for you back. Not you, or Drats or anyone else. I've failed you all. Failed to see why Drats didn't want to battle. I know you weren't there, but I'm not the trainer I once was. I screwed up big-time with Drats, and I don't want to do so again."

_'Jeez, Rob, stop beating yourself up like this!_' Rai said.

Firael stared back at Rob for a few seconds before her eyes softened and she nodded. "I'll be sure to pass the news onto Drats, but you can talk to them as well since they're with us. All your..,past pokemon are here."

"No, not yet. I don't want them to know I'm here, especially Drats. I've given her enough grief. Just tell them what I told you, that I didn't understand them and why they fought for me."

Firael placed her paw on Rai's, which was still on her shoulder. "Maybe you just don't understand yourself. Why do you train pokemon? What motivated you to try the same strategy again and again, even after a slew of losses? Why did you do what you did to Drats? What motivated you to come after me, to go after Kova? You seem to have lost track of the most important thing." She prodded his chest with a claw. "You." With a fleeting smile, she squeezed his paw before sliding if off her shoulder and walking off.

Rob slumped back down and buried his face in his paws in despair._ 'Things used to make so much sense...'_

* * *

><p>Back at Lucas' apartment, Celebi looked at Palkia (still a human) and Arceus with worried eyes.<p>

"I've lost contact with them. Mew hasn't spoken to me in over 10 minutes."

_**"Wait another 10 minutes. If we still don't get a response, we might have to consider other options."**_

* * *

><p>Awareness slowly returned back to Saturn, one neuron at a time. He felt as though his entire body had been encased in clay and moulded, forced into another shape. He slowly opened his eyes.<p>

"Oh, you're awake." A heavily muffled voice sounded in the distance. Saturn's eyes were greeted with a fuzzy yellow outline that seemed to be slowly sharpening.

Saturn blinked. Now his vision seemed to be clearing a lot faster and he seemed to be thinking clearly.

_"Oh, I don't feel so good…"_

"It's expected that you won't feel that good. Despite my best efforts, this body isn't in the best condition right now. I'm also impressed with the speed with which you've already picked up telepathy." The voice, which Saturn groggily identified as Nikolai, spoke with an air of excitement.

Saturn tried to smile, but his face seemed fixed in place. Groaning, he rolled off the operating table, lost his footing and fell onto the ground.

"You, um, need to take things slowly. Different bodies have different walking motions."

_"I figured. Still, this body doesn't feel quite right…."_

"You're probably just suffering a little from species dysphoria at the moment, but the feeling should pass. If symptoms persist, consult your doctor."

_"...you are my doctor."_

"Try standing up on your feet first. If you can get up quickly, then it means that most of your motor skills seem to have transferred over."

Saturn concentrated and arranged his feet under him before making a concerted effort to slowly push up. He nearly unbalanced himself by pushing too hard on his hind legs, but a quick adjustment had him standing on all fours.

_"Something still feels wrong. It's almost like I'm wearing a suit…"_

Saturn took a tentative step forwards, realising that the feeling could be easily ignored. Still, a part of his mind wanted to know, so he threw the layer off.

"Sat–Saturn, what are you doing?"

Layers came off, and Saturn opened his eyes once again, feeling much more like his former self.

_'Ah, this feels tons better.'_

Then he looked at his hands.

Or rather, his paws. Pink paws.

_"MEW?!"_ The volume of Saturn's psychic broadcast caused Nikolai to inadvertently stumble backwards.

Righting himself, Nikolai took another involuntary step away from the bristling mew. "I–I guess not. Mew must have come in under the guise of Arceus."

_"This...this will not do. This body…..I cannot be taken seriously if I'm a pink fur-ball, and the body of Arceus is plagued with flaws. No. We must go to Jirachi. Only she can give me what I want."_

* * *

><p><em>"MEW?!"<em> Giovanni spun around, eyes narrowing. On the other side of the Containment Chamber, Rynade paled.

"Rynade! What is the meaning of this? You and Saturn have repeatedly assured me that you did not have mew in your possession, and now..." Giovanni growled, a threat hanging implicit in the air.

Rynade held out his hands in a fruitless attempt to placate Giovanni. "I had no knowledge of mew having ever come into our possession. Mayb-"

"Ahhhh, whatever." Giovanni said. Rynade clamped his mouth shut. "It is obvious that you know less than I do. Very well. Go away and leave me alone; your services are no longer needed."

As he watched Rynade skulk off, Giovanni paced around Jirachi's cage. _'So, Saturn's been withholding information from me, eh? Well, two can play at this game. I will have mew, whether I need to get it by fair means or fowl.'_

* * *

><p>After dinner, Patrick anxiously opened the door to his bedroom. "Hello?"<p>

A muffled response from under his bed. "Hey, Pat! You're finally back!"

Patrick grinned. "I've got some biscuits and artificial meat from our pantry for you two. After you're finished, we'll head back, yeah?" He slid two boxes under the bed.

"Sounds good." Isrea replied, ripping sounds already coming from beneath the bed."

* * *

><p>"I've got contact!" Celebi said.<p>

Palkia stopped her nervous pacing. "Really? What's happened?"

"It's not good news. I'm speaking with Lear right now. Lucas' Gallade?" He added in response to Palkia's confused look. "He's said that they got knocked out by a trap and that mew is missing. Morgan's managed to rendezvous with them in a storage room somehow, and she's also with some scientist and a raichu."

"That's a stroke of good luck." Palkia said.

Arceus moved next to Celebi, glowing eyes gazing straight at him. _**"What are they planning to do?"**_

"Lear says that he doesn't know yet, since Morgan and the scientist are still reviving everyone's pokemon."

**_"Tell Lear to inform us of Morgan's plan when she does come up with one."_**

Celebi nodded. After a few seconds, he started speaking again. "Okay, Lear's gotten your message. He's also asking why don't you go in with me and Palkia, seeing as the first plan didn't quite work out."

Arceus shook his head. _**"We'd be playing straight into Saturn's hands. He was prepared for our assault, and if we go in we could get captured just as easily. We stay put, for now."**_

* * *

><p>Saturn took a deep breath, smoothing out the fur on his forearms. <em>"Okay, let's reassess."<em>

Nikolai sat down across the mew and tapped the supine form of Saturn's old body, which now held Myu's consciousness. "Well, we can keep your old body sedated for as long as required, but I would advise not showing everyone your body until you've gotten Jirachi's wish. Or we could just tie him up."

Letting out a big sigh, Saturn nodded._ "You have a good point, especially with Giovanni around. Okay, so I transform into my old body and leave this one here."_ Ears perking up, Saturn's face brightened considerably. _"That's will be perfect! I'll call an assembly of everyone at the building and lock the doors afterwards so that Giovanni can't escape. Then we'll sit and wait for the comet to come. Nikolai, I'm going to try transforming, so could you please tell me if I've pulled it off correctly?"_

"Sir." Nikolai replied as Saturn vanished behind a glowing miasma of white light. "Shall I rig up the intercom to make the announcement? Oh, very nice, Saturn. You look just like your old self."

Saturn grinned. _"Good, Now, Nikolai, we won't need the intercom. When everyone is together, raise the clearance level for the Containment Chamber to level 9."_

Nikolai raised an eyebrow. "Huh? No intercom?"

_"Would all Galactic employees present please proceed to the Containment Room for an announcement."_

* * *

><p>Giovanni's brain raced upon 'hearing' Saturn's telepathic broadcast.<em> 'How did Saturn manage that?'<em>

His hand dropped to his pocket, where he fingered his 6 pokeballs, thinking all the while. _'We'll find out soon, but mew or no mew, Saturn's going to find out that my team are no pushovers. If he doesn't think I'm not willing to fight my way out, then he is sorely mistaken.'_

* * *

><p><em>"Would all Galactic employees present please proceed to the Containment Room for an announcement."<em>

Everyone in the storage room paused for a second, Morgan halfway through reviving the last of the pokemon, Aron's sandslash–Sasha.

Sonya stood up. "That sounded like Saturn, but why would he say that, and how did he manage to get into our heads like that?"

Morgan rubbed life back into Sasha as the sandslash coughed up a torrent of water. "Maybe Saturn is now mew? I dunno, just using Occam's Razor."

"Oh no. If Nikolai had modified the mind transfer apparatus that he used on Rob and Rai, he might have found a way to swap minds instead of putting both of them in one body. If that's the case…"

"We should probably just head to Jirachi before Saturn gets there."

"Yeah, good point, but Saturn's likely there already. There'll be tons of grunts heading in that direction, and we're not going to beat all of them there. Better to wait and see if we can't sneak in after everyone gathers." Sonya called out to all the pokemon in the storage room. "We're going back to where Jirachi is for one last crack! Morgan and I are going to recall everyone and make our way there. We're probably going to all die, but I reckon it'll happen if Saturn gets his wish anyway."

Morgan sighed. "Screwed if we do, screwed if we don't."

* * *

><p>"Lear's back. Apparently Morgan and Sonya think Saturn has become a mew." Celebi frowned. "Now that is worrying."<p>

Palkia swore. "This is going from bad to worse! Surely there is something we can do?"

_**"We do not know for sure if this has happened or not. However, I am beginning to get an inkling of what Saturn seeks."**_

Palkia punched a pillow. "It's obvious, isn't it? He tried to nab you at spear pillar and he went after you again, except it wasn't actually you! The man just wants godhood!"

Arceus' eyes glittered red. _**"Possibly."**_

"Possibly? What else could he want?"

_**"Something better, something purer."**_

"What on earth are you talking about?"

_**"I'm**_** not."**

"Huh?" Palkia made a face.

Arceus remained silent.

* * *

><p>The sound of a horde of footsteps slowly brought Lucas to consciousness.<p>

_"Ohh…,"_ he groaned,_ "my everything hurts."_ All his muscles burned like they had been torched and it was all he could do to work himself into a seated position. To his left, Sean was still comatose. Blinking owlishly at the harsh lighting, Lucas had a look at his surroundings.

He was sitting in a closet-sized cage, and through closely spaced bars he could see the rest of the containment chamber. To his right and nearer the back of the centre lay Jirachi's cage on a dais, Saturn standing nearby. The wish pokemon simply remained flat on the ground, unmoving. To his right, dozens of grunts were slowly streaming into the only entrance of the chamber, throwing nervous looks at Saturn and the cages that held Lucas and Sean. After a few minutes, it seemed evident that all the grunts present within the base were inside the Containment Chamber, gathered opposite Lucas and Sean on the left side of the chamber.

"Nikolai, lock the doors into the Inner Sanctum and the Containment Chamber, and raise the clearance for external entrance into the Containment Chamber to it's maximum level." Saturn called out. As Nikolai moved over to Sean's right, where the control interface was, Lucas noted a few cries of alarm from the grunts. It seemed as though he wasn't the only person who had noticed this; Saturn had also done so and now sought to calm them down.

"Ladies! Gentlemen! You have nothing to fear. I just don't want any interruptions." It was at this point that Lucas noticed Giovanni sulking in the left back corner of the room (from Lucas' perspective), standing silently behind a crowd of grunts._ 'Giovanni? What is he doing here?'_

Saturn cleared his throat and started speaking, projecting his voice through the entire room with force.."It is with great pleasure that I announce a new era in the history of the Galactic Corporation! This morning will mark a turning point in our pasts."

* * *

><p>"Quick! In here!" Sonya waved Morgan into the Inner Sanctum, Rai hot on her heels. Most of the pokemon had been recalled into their pokeballs for convenience's sake, but nobody knew where Rai's pokeball was, so he had to run with them. By the time Morgan had reached Sonya, the latter was peeking through one of the many wide windows into the Containment Chamber.<p>

"My god, there's a lot of them." Morgan whispered.

Sonya sat down under the window, wiping her brow. "Yeah. We'll just get blown up if we try to go in through that door, but I don't think our ID's have clearance to get in anyway. I've never seen the card scanner glow blue before. Usually red is the highest clearance level."

"Let's circle around, see if we can't find anything that'll help us."

Sonya shook her head. "I don't know this part of the base that well, but I do know that there's only one entrance into the Containment Chamber."

"So?" Morgan shrugged. "It's not like we're doing anything good in here. Might as well have a look around."

"Fine."

* * *

><p>"My, that artificial meat stuff was really good!" Aron licked his lips as he crawled into Patrick's bed.<p>

"You reckon? After trying real meat from your time, I don't think it tasted that good."

"Oh, I didn't say it tasted like meant, but it was still delicious. Watch it!" Aron grunted as Isrea got in as well, squeezing into the other side. "My, we're packed in here something tight, aren't we?"

"Ah, no big deal, this shouldn't take too long. Now don't speak, alright?"

"I hope not."

Isrea shushed Aron. "Shhh…No tears, only dreams now."

* * *

><p>Myu woke up, quickly coming to his senses. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Saturn's body?"<p>

He was lying on the operating table, hands and feet tied together. Trying to wriggle his way out of the ropes turned out to be fruitless and he ended up falling off the table and landing on the ground with a resounding _whomph_.

"This is objectively the worst moment of my life."

* * *

><p>Aron, Patrick appared on the floor of the Containment Chamber, behind Jirachi's cage. Seeing Aron's mouth open, Isrea reached over and clamped a hand over his mouth, a finger over hers.<p>

Patrick had peeked around the edge of Jirachi's cage, and how crawled back to them. "There are a whole ton of grunts and the boss grunt is giving them a speech oh god why are we here maybe we should just go I-"

"Stop whispering like that, you're getting louder." Isrea replied, her voice low. "We wait here, see if we can do anything. If we can't, then we go back to your room, but I don't like the idea of spending the rest of my life hiding under your bed."

"But firstly," Saturn continued, oblivious to the commotion happening a few metres behind him, "I must address matters of lesser importance. It has recently come to my attention that many of you were questioning the identity and origin of the white pokemon that most of you have undoubtedly encountered earlier this morning. Well, that pokemon had taken on the visage of Arceus, the god pokemon."

Audible gasps were heard from the crowd around Giovanni. Within moments, most of the grunts had started whispering to each other, producing an overall effect of rustling paper on a windy day.

_'I don't see what Saturn's trying to do here. They don't need to know this, and where is this god pokemon then?' _Giovanni thought, gears grinding in his head.

"Of course, the key word here is 'visage'. The pokemon wasn't actually Arceus, but actually another well known legendary, Mew." That got Giovanni's attention.

_'Well, it's confirmed. The Galactic Corporation do have Mew in their possession.'_

"Through some ingenious engineering by our Research and Development wing, led by Nikolai here, we have thus taken the golden opportunity to produce the first ever…," Saturn paused and grinned at everyone. "Complete mind transplant._ Behold, the power of Mew!_" The last sentence was telepathically spoken with enough force to send Giovanni reeling.

"Of course, while such power is appreciated, one must remember the sole goal of Team Galactic: perfection."

* * *

><p>Myu was busy wallowing in despair and self-pity when she heard some voices approach.<p>

"Hey, this is where Rob got transformed! We were going to try getting his Raichu out, but the plan backfired on us."

"That's unfortunate." Myu heard the door open. 'That second person was Morgan!'

"Hey! Some help please?"

"What was that?" More footsteps, now running across the room. "Saturn? What are you doing here, all tied up like that?"

Myu shook her head viciously. "I'm Myu, not Saturn! That nutjob swapped bodies with me!"

"But isn't Saturn in the Containment Chamber? How do we know that you're not the real Saturn?" Sonya crossed her arms.

Myu rolled her eyes. "I have no idea who you are, but that other person is Morgan, she has three pokemon, a ninetales named Adele, chatot named Sonata and a bellossom named—"

"Yes, okay, I get it, you're Myu." Morgan bent down and began untying Saturn. "I must say, you look frightfully unhappy."

"Ya think?"

A deafening snap followed by a clunking sound drew everyone's attention to the transferral machine, which Rob had just fried with his most powerful thunderbolt. Morgan shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"So much for staying quiet."

* * *

><p>Saturn paused for effect. "Yes, perfection, the one quality that most everyone thought was forever out of our reach! Yet, is not the endless push for self-improvement the best way to spend one's life? We have redirected funds towards bodily accessorisation, and in doing so have made some amazing breakthroughs, being able to mix and match pokemon and human minds or swap them completely. Think about how powerful your pokemon are; now consider how much more powerful they could be if you were controlling them, if you were the pokemon! Obviously, most pokemon would be unsuitable for such a change, but I can think of a select few that would be direct improvements over our current forms." Saturn started transforming into several different pokemon. "<em>Mew!, Mewtwo!, Dragonite! Tyranitar! Palkia!<em>" Transforming back into his human form, Saturn raised both hands to the roof. "The possibilities...are endless."

* * *

><p>As the three edged around the Chamber, Sonya gave Myu a quick briefing of the current situation while Morgan ducked in and out of the various rooms arranged around the Chamber. They were now currently directly opposite the entrance, Jirachi's cage in close proximity to them.<p>

"Now we're stuck outside with all of everyone's pokemon but with no way to get in. We'll just have to hope for some luck before that comet comes."

Myu nodded sagely. "It doesn't look good. Even if you did get in, Saturn's capable of doing a lot of damage in my body. Say, is that Aron? How did he get in there?"

"Huh?" Sonya spun around to see Myu approaching a window, where Aron, Patrick and Isrea were huddled up against the back of the dais that Jirachi's cage was resting upon.

"Myu, get down!"

"Why, they can help us!"

"Yeah but they won't if they see Saturn's face looking at them, you dolt!"

"Oh."

* * *

><p>A tapping sound got Aron's attention. He looked up to see Sonya and Morgan waving at him.<p>

"Hey!" He poked Isrea and Patrick, directing their eyes towards the window.

"Huh, I wonder what Morgan's doing here? Maybe they can help us?"

Morgan and Sonya were now pointing past them at the door and making opening motions. Aron's jaw dropped.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" He mouthed back. He made a throat-slitting gesture with his hands before indicating that she had gone completely loony.

Morgan shrugged.

* * *

><p>"I guess it was a bit of a stretch. There's no way they could have gotten the door open." Sonya sighed.<p>

"Maybe, but one of the rooms here looks like it has something to do with the functionality of the Containment Chamber."

"Hmm?" Sonya followed Morgan into the room she was referring to. "Oh, this is the control room for the Inner Sanctum. It controls all of the locking mechanisms for the rooms in here."

"Sooooooo….." Morgan postulated. "Couldn't we just...y'know, open the door this way?"

Sonya laughed. "Ha! If only it were that easy. The door for the Containment Chamber works slightly differently. You CAN lock it from this room, but you can't unlock it from here, unless it was previously locked from this room. Basically, we can unlock it from here if we locked it from here, but if it was locked from he inside, we can't do anything about it except locking it again."

Myu frowned. "That sounds really stupid."

"It actually isn't." Sonya walked over to the dashboard and pointed at a large red button covered in a clear plastic casing. "The lock is supposed to be used with this button, which is essentially a self-destruct mechanism. Press the button and the Inner Sanctum gets blown up, but the rest of the base is left intact. Apparently it's the best way to hide evidence and set up the room as a trap for investigators, since all of their most damning research is conducted in here."

"Why not just blow up the entire base, since this is all obviously illegal?"

Sonya shrugged. "The Galactica building is built on top of this base. It'd probably collapse, and nobody wants that. The Galactica building and the business it conducts is completely legitimate."

Morgan sighed. "Well, if that's the case, can't we just turn on the self-destruct and kill everyone in there?"

"Wait, even Lucas, Aron, Patrick, Sean and Isrea?" Sonya raised an eyebrow.

"Still better than the alternative."

"She has a point." Myu frowned. "But I don't doubt that Saturn won't just teleport out of there. That, or they can just unlock the door from the Containment Chamber."

"That's the thing. This lock is a permanent lock. You can't undo it from anywhere else except here, which is why it's such a good trap. Let investigators into the Chamber, lock the door on them and let them starve to death. You guys were lucky that you had pokemon who could teleport, or that would have been what Saturn would have done to you."

* * *

><p>"Of course, you may be asking me what I plan to do now that I've got all this power. Well, the answer is quite simple: It's not enough." Hearing Saturn's voice approach their location, Aron, Isrea and Patrick all instinctively shrunk lower. Saturn rapped his knuckles on the side of Jirachi's box. "You see this pokemon? You may know her as Jirachi, the wish pokemon. She is commonly known to sleep for 1000 years, waking up once a millennium for about a week. When the Millennium Comet flies past earth, her third eye opens and lets you make a wish, which she'll grant.<p>

Turns out that the Millennium Comet isn't very accurately named, since my contact at Mossdeep Space Center has informed me that it's due any moment now. And so we wait." Saturn walked back to the centre of the room. "Nikolai, fire up the cannons!"

"Sir."

Clapping his hands together, Saturn started speaking again. "But, oh, silly me. We're missing one most important guest._ ARCEUS! DO YOU HEAR ME!_"

* * *

><p>Celebi saw Arceus jolt slightly, before he turned to him.<p>

_**"It's happened. Saturn has mew's body."**_

"How do you know?" Celebi asked, eyes wide.

"He's talking to me right now. He wants me to hand myself in, or he kills Sean, Lucas and Myu."

Palkia looked horrified. "You can't go! You go and we're all dead!"

Arceus simply shook his head. _**"It's already too late. At least this way not everyone has to die."** _With that, Arceus disappared.

Palkia kicked a vase over, making Celebi yelp as he dodged the flying shards of broken porcelain. "I can't believe he didn't let us go in earlier."

"What would it have done? We would have been trapped the same way Myu was, and if we went in later we still don't have any way to disable the trap and get to Jirachi while the entirety of Galactica hammers away at us. We've been outsmarted at every turn of the page."

Palkia vehemently shook her head. "Arceus has to have a plan. He has to."

"Are you sure?"

"...no."

* * *

><p>Arceus opened his eyes, caught a glimpse of three cages—<p>

"Fire."

* * *

><p>"Holy mother of mew….did...did that just happen?" Sonya whispered, eyes wide open.<p>

"You do realise I don't actually have a mother." Myu, kneeling beside them, said snarkily.

"What was he thinking?"

"I don't know, but he usually has a good reason for everything he does."

"Yeah, but it doesn't look good, does it?" Morgan started moving around the Inner Sanctum again.

"No, it doesn't." Myu sighed.

* * *

><p>"Nikolai, how long can those cannons keep Arceus restrained?" Saturn asked the scientist, staring at Arceus with glee as the pokemon crumpled under the force of the cannon blasts.<p>

Nikolai, still working the controls, replied with a bit of uncertainty. "Well, seeing as I'm only using some of them, I can rotate the cannons in and out for up to 2 hours.

"That should be fine, just keep him awake but immobile. Now, ladies and gentlemen. We wait, for Jirachi, for the Comet, and for the coming of a new era!" Now finished, Saturn walked over to Jirachi's cage and stared intently at the pokemon inside.

Sean groaned as he woke up, catching Saturn's attention. "Oh god I feel like a billboard…."

On the other side of the cage, Isrea breathed a sigh of relief. 'That was close...'

"Ah, the two enterprising young trainers. You two did put on a good show for us, you know." Saturn waved at them. To the crowd, he said, "Everyone, these two, along with Arceus here, are our esteemed guests for what is to come. Please treat them with all the respect that they deserve. That is, if you think they deserve any. Ha!"

* * *

><p>Half-awake, half-asleep, Jirachi was once again made faintly aware of her seemingly eternal struggle to breathe.<p>

But then, a presence, quickly approaching.

_'The...the comet.'_

**_"Jirachi!"_**

_'The comet...it comes…'_

**_"Ji...Jirachi, please! We need to talk!"_**

_'I'll get to sleep soon, and it'll be all over...all over…..'_

**_"Jirachi...please…"_**

_'What's this? A voice? Then I must listen.'_

* * *

><p>After a few minutes, Saturn noticed a glow emanating from Jirachi's cage, hurrying over, he realised that the eyelid on the pokemon's belly was slowly opening. Changing the settings on Jirachi's cage so as to give the pokemon more air, he announced to the entire room,<em> "the eye opens."<em>

All other activity ceased.

* * *

><p><em>'Air!"<em> Jirachi's back arched up as she took her first full gulp of air in several days.

_"Jirachi, you may know me as Saturn. Here is how this is going to work. I make my wish, and you grant it, or Arceus, Mew, and all your other friends all die, and do so horribly."_

_'Well, that's a welcome reception,'_ Jirachi thought to herself. To Saturn, she projected something else.

_"Well, what happens if I do give your wish? Don't they all die anyway?"_

_"Weeell...yeah okay, so you've got a good point, but at least they won't suffer. I might even let one or two of them live. You never know."_

_"It doesn't matter anyway, if someone makes a formal wish, I have to grant it. Just say it and I'll make it happen."_

* * *

><p>"Witness!" Saturn shouted. He stared Arceus in the eye.<p>

"To be without flaws, to be unbound by laws. My wish...is to be perfect!"

* * *

><p><strong>Hey! Look, the chapter ended. OH DEAR I WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NOW. If you're into wordplay, you'll figure what happens next. On an unrelated note, I've made a differentiation between psychic speech and thought. Psychic speech uses double quotation marks whereas thought still uses single quotes. Arceus already used this format, but I also used bolded italics, so I thought I'd reclarify since this has popped up this chapter quite a bit.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Steven: Firael dropping the philosophy bombs this chapter.<strong>

**Firael: Thank you. I'm well versed in the writing of Rene Descartes.**

**Rush: Well aren't you amazing all of a sudden?**

**Firael: Shut up Rush, I really want to beat you up, but you know what? Power of mind over power of body.**

**Rush: You haven't really been following that very well, have you. All brawn and no brains, that's what you are.**

**Firael: Cogito Ergo Sum… I think, therefore I am….going to punch you in the face!**

**Rush: Oh no, not again.**

**Steven: All the skits seem to end this way now...**

**Vendel: [CITATION NEEDED]**


	42. The Wish

**Sorry about the long wait—some stuff got in the way and I haven't had many good opportunities to just sit down and pump out some words. Welcome to the second-last chapter and the epilogue! The good news is that this wasn't as long as I had feared it would be. Things get a bit messy here, so if you think the rating needs to be upped, then it probably should be. I still think it's okay, but this chapter is pretty borderline for K+ in my opinion.**

**Finally, please inform me of any errors you do find in this (or the next chapter). Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: CHOO CHOO**

* * *

><p><em>SNAP!<em>

It was as if the world's largest whip had been cracked next to everybody's ears. In a stunning flash of blindingly blue light, Saturn disappeared.

As everyone around him clapped hands over their ears, Giovanni leapt into action. Reaching for his set of pokeballs, he released all his pokemon in two bursts. Pokemon that he had personally hand-picked from Rocket's arsenal for indoor fighting (which did, unfortunately, rule out a particularly promising steelix). Six forms materialised as heads began turning towards him. A rhyperior and a nidoking for bulk coupled with a persian to patrol and weaken potential longer ranged threats. Finally, three heavy and speedy damage dealers in his garchomp, gengar and krookodile to act as clean-up. However, all of Giovanni's effort into building a well-balanced team had gone to waste; he wasn't interested in such tactics. He regarded his team as they intently stared at him, waiting for his first order. A split second of two-sided acknowledgement, then:

"Kill them all." With a yowl, his persian leapt to action, quickly followed by the garchomp, gengar and krookodile with his back line slowly following.

As his surroundings exploded into a cacophony of screams, Giovanni began to calmly pace towards Jirachi's cage, ignoring his pokemon as they performed the dance of death.

_'If I cannot have mew, then I will have Arceus. If I cannot have Arceus, then Jirachi will give me Arceus,'_

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Aron asked fearfully. "That didn't sound good."<p>

Isrea risked peeking around the dais, briefly catching sight of some pokemon being let out. "Looks like some sort of argument. They look pretty distracted. Oh!" She added once she saw Giovanni's pokemon ploughing into the crowd of Galactic grunts. "There are pokemon attacking the grunts and someone's heading for the cage…"

Patrick nodded. "Okay, I'm going to run for the door and get it open for Morgan. You guys try and delay the cage's opening for as long as you can, okay?"

"Wait, are you CRA-" Aron began, but it was too late. Patrick had already left their hiding spot.

* * *

><p>Sonya, Myu and Morgan had been completing their circuit of the Inner Sanctum when they heard the snapping noise that signified Saturn's disappearance.<p>

"What was that?" Morgan cried out, running to the nearest window. Myu and Sonya quickly followed suit, where they silently watched carnage erupt upon Giovanni's command.

"Oh...god….that's Giovanni. How did he get here?" Sonya whispered.

Myu had other concerns, forcefully tugging at the clothing of Morgan and Sonya. "Hey! One of those kids is making a break for the door! Quickly! We need to get in before the door gets shut again!"

* * *

><p>"Patrick's insane." Isrea said.<p>

Aron nodded, trying his best to drown out the screaming that was starting to emanate from the other side of the room. It sounded as if the grunts had managed to get some of their pokemon out before getting mowed down, but they seemed to be no match for Giovanni's well-trained pokemon. "We need to stop that man."

"Not you as well! I'd like to keep myself intact, thank you very much!"

Aron rounded on her. "What makes you think you'll stay intact if that man gets a wish? He just ordered his pokemon to kill over a hundred people!"

Isrea paused, before letting out an explosive sigh. "Okay, but you're taking the first punch."

* * *

><p>Giovanni tried to control the swelling tide of pride that surged within his body as he neared the prone form of Jirachi.<p>

_'The ability to control any living thing in this universe….that should do it. My dream.'_

He reached Jirachi's cage and tapped one of the wall panels.

"Jirachi...I know you can hear me."

"Now!" Came a shout.

_'Huh?'_ Giovanni didn't have much time to react as..._some kid_ slammed into his side, wrapping his arms around Giovanni's waist and pushing him back a metre or so. Flailing his arms to regain balance, Giovanni was caught off guard when another weight descended on his shoulders as another person hopped on his back,

A girl's voice slammed into his ear, piercing his ear drums. "YAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Giovanni responded in the only way he knew how; he allowed himself to fall over backwards, landing on the girl with all his weight. Feeling her grip go slack, he rolled over and delivered a stinging backhand cuff to the head of the teen who had his arms wrapped around his waist before rolling over again and struggling to get up. Upon getting up, Giovanni was rewarded with the sight of the gate opening, a third teenager standing beside the console, dressed in pyjamas.

_'What in the world?'_

Squinting hard, Giovanni could make out shapes moving behind the door.

_'Oh, for crying out loud, not more people.'_ Giovanni thought, looking around one of his less occupied pokemon. _'Of course, the persian.'_

"Persian! Clear out the person at the console!" Giovanni bellowed, trying to make himself heard above the commotion. His command was greeted with an unearthly wail.

* * *

><p>Patrick let out a deep breath, not quite believing he had managed to make it to the console and then get the door open. He took a step towards the door before he briefly heard a soft purring, a sharp prickling in his back, pressure on the shoulder blades-<p>

* * *

><p>"Door's opening! Let the pokemon out!" Myu yelled. Morgan and Sonya both unslung their backpacks and began throwing pokeballs left and right. Myu instantly started giving orders after seeing Steven almost instantly fly in.<p>

"If you're in Lucas or Sean's team, then head to the left—you need to fight Giovanni's pokemon. Everyone else head for the cages and Arceus! We need to get Lucas and Sean out before freeing Arceus!" Myu pointed out Sean's lucario and Lucas' heracross. "Lael, Blitz! Follow me. We need to secure Jirachi."

The only response Myu got was a confused look. Morgan let out a short chuckle. "It's all right, guys. That's just Myu. He–uh, just looks like Saturn. Listen to whatever he says."

Myu nodded frantically. "Ok, so are we good? We need to go now!"

With that, Myu ran into the chamber, Blitz and Lael closely following.

* * *

><p>Steven couldn't believe his eyes when he had first flown into the chamber. The right side of the room was relatively calm, the only movement coming from a confused looking persian and the slightly shaking form of Arceus.<p>

However, the left side of the room was a mess. Red marking splattered the wall and windows all along that side of the room as Giovanni's pokemon dispatched of the last of the grunts' pokemon. The worst part about the battle was the smell, a deep iron-scented tendril that dug hooks into Steven's beak, drawing tears to his eyes.

Steven knew he couldn't do anything to help them, but he did know that there was something he could do. He raced past Myu on the way back out.

* * *

><p>Morgan turned to look at Sonya. "Well, Myu's certainly being pro- hey! Scout, what are you doing?" Steven had flown in and soon flown straight back out before diving right into Aron's backpack, the one that Morgan had been carrying. "Scout, I know it's pretty scary in there, but could you at least let me release everyone else? You're holding us up." The swellow now seemed to be flailing around inside the bag.<p>

With a squawk, Steven managed to extract himself from the bag tail first, with the master ball in his talons. Taking a moment to solidify his grip on the ball, Steven took off once again, flying back into the chamber.

"What was that about?" Morgan wondered.

"Less talking, more opening!" Sonya shouted.

"Sorry." Morgan plunged her hand back inside Aron's backpack. "Still, I reckon we've got a chance now. We outnumber Giovanni's pokemon by more than two to one."

Sonya shrugged. "Don't be so sure. Revived pokemon take a few days to get back to full strength unless we go to a pokemon centre, so everyone is fighting half-empty at the moment."

* * *

><p>Giovanni got to his feet and regarded the two trainers who had chosen to fight him with contempt.<p>

"Hah!" He sneered. "You two really thought you could fight me? You're barely old enough to stop using crayons."

He couldn't resist a chuckle as one of their faces contorted into a visage of pure rage before they both leapt at him. He simply took a step back and swung both fists up, clocking both both square in the face. Moving gracefully forwards, Giovanni then took both of their heads in each hand and slammed them both together like two coconuts. They made a clonking noise.

They dropped like a sack of bricks. Looking up from their tangled bodies, Giovanni saw Saturn heading at him with a lucario and a heracross.

'Oh crap, Saturn's back. Since when did he have a lucario?' Giovanni thought quickly, before deciding to make a run for it. "Garchomp! To me!" He yelled, running over to the Mach pokemon as it turned and made for him. Looking over to his left, he noticed that Saturn was ignoring him, instead choosing to make a break for Jirachi. Changing plans on the fly, he issured new commands. "Garchomp, attack that trainer from the left. Gengar! Try striking a second afterwards from the other side! Trainer first! Persian! Stay at the console! Rhyperior, Nidoking, I assume you can deal with the last of these pathetic pokemon on your own."

More pokemon started filling in through the door, most notably a bronzong and two skarmory. Giovanni grimaced. '_I need that door closed...there are too many fresh pokemon coming in through that door. After that, I'll need to think of something to deal with all these new pokemon. I don't want to risk losing this.'_

As his pokemon leapt into action, Giovanni sprinted across the room towards the console, seeking a way to close the door. When halfway there, another person broke from the cages and ran out of the door, right past his persian, who made no move to stop him. Giovanni's jaw dropped. "Persian, why didn't you- oh…Nevermind. I told you to stay put, but you were still supposed to stop anyone who ran past you!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of red light to his left drew Giovanni's eye. Arceus had disappeared.

"Oh, now that's JUST GREAT, isn't it?. Abso-muking-loutely perfect!"

* * *

><p>Myu spotted Aron and Isrea lying on the grown next to each other.<p>

"Aron, Isrea!" Myu started running, just as she heard a roar coming from her left. Blitz just barely managed to intercept the garchomp's dragon claw attack, the heracross getting knocked into Myu by the force of the attack. Lael lept over Blitz to engage the garchomp, catching it squarely in the neck with a pinpoint bullet-fast punch.

Preoccupied with garchomp as Lael and Blitz were, they failed to see Myu getting struck down from behind by Giovanni's gengar.

* * *

><p>Morgan released Gilly and pointed him towards the chamber. Watching him glide into the chamber and take a sharp right, Morgan let out a large sigh. "That's everyone then. I'll head in and try helping Myu direct things." As Morgan finished speaking, a figure wearing a lab coat sprinted out of the chamber and turned the corner in a flutter of clothes.<p>

"Nikolai!" Sonya cried up, getting up. "Morgan, stay here and hold the fort. I'm going after Nikolai. We've got a score to settle." With that, Sonya turned tail and sped off in pursuit.

Just as Sonya left, Steven flew back out, screeching in victory.

"Scout, what is it?"

In reply, the swellow swept over her and dropped something into her lap. The master ball.

'What in the world….I thought this didn't work?' Morgan thought. Still, there wasn't much else she could do with the ball, so she activated the release mechanism. The ball spat out a red beam, which slowly materialized into the half-frozen, half-paralysed form of Arceus.

"WELL." Morgan threw her hands up in exasperation. "I have no idea what just happened, but I'm not about to question anything. Nope. Definitely not. Nothing to see here, just another pokemon."

Behind her, Steven preened himself.

The door slammed shut.

* * *

><p>Sean closed his eyes as he saw the door close. Aron and Isrea's pokemon were working hard on the locks on his and Lucas' cage, but he didn't have high hopes for survival if Lucas' and his pokemon didn't pull through. That man's pokemon had been indiscriminately killing anything that moved, and now that he had seen Saturn struck down, any hope of a Galactic resurgence seemed lost. Another wave of nausea struck him as he took another breath, inhaling the meaty stench of the dead and dying.<p>

Ignoring his screaming muscles, Sean tried to shift his position. To his left, Lucas had barely moved since he had woken up.

* * *

><p><em>'No more interference then, now that the door's closed again.'<em> Giovanni thought, surveying the situation before him once more. The new set of pokemon seemed to have split into two groups, a smaller set of ten or so heading for the cages holding those two trainers and the others splitting off to do battle with his pokemon. It wasn't looking good. Rhyperion was already down, finally buckling under the repeated assault of about 5 or so pokemon. His nidoking and krookodile were not far behind in giving up but still holding out admirably while his garchomp and gengar were fighting and winning a heated battle with the lucario and heracross that were guarding Saturn. Slowly turning a new idea over in his head, Giovanni turned back to the console and started working the cannons.

"Persian, guard my back, and this time please go after anyone stupid enough to run right past you."

_'I'll most likely lose my nidoking and krookodile by doing this, but they weren't going to last much longer. This is more effective.'_

* * *

><p><em>'Where is Nikolai going? He knows there's no other exit around here...'<em>

Breathing hard, Sonya narrowly avoided a door being slammed into her face. Having noticed that Sonya was chasing him, Nikolai had upped his pace. They flew through one of the many labs that dotted the Inner Sanctum, this one filled with broken pokeballs scattered along benches like chaff from a plane. Looking ahead, she saw Nikolai grab a pair of scissors and hastily stuff them in his coat pocket.

Willing herself onwards, Sonya finally figured where Nikolai was going.

_'Oh no.'_

* * *

><p>Giovanni, having readjusted the cannons to his satisfaction, reached out two pokeballs and recalled his garchomp and gengar. He couldn't suppress a grin at watching the lucario spin around in confusion, before his hand descended on the button that would reactivate the cannons.<p>

_BLAM!_

The shockwave that the cannons made knocked Giovanni on his back. To his right, he saw a staraptor get buffeted out of the air, slammed into the cage wall by the force of the cannons. To his left, the entire half of the chamber was now ensconced in a white mist. Letting out his remaining pokemon, Giovanni gave a few more commands, pleased with how his plan had paid off.

"Garchomp, sandstorm to clear the mist. You and persian can finish off what's left of the pokemon. Gengar, take down those pokemon by the cages for me, will you? None of them look too strong.

* * *

><p>Lael forced her eyes open. By virtue of the fact that she and Blitz had been fighting nearer the center of the chamber, she hadn't been hit with the full force of the cannons, but the sheer power behind them had blown her and Lucas' heracross apart. Struggling to her feet, the lucario grimaced as her frozen muscles protested against being abused like that.<p>

She was nearly knocked back off her feet as a heavy gust of wind blew her way, showering her with bits of sand. When that had cleared, Lael got a good view of the chamber. The left side was nearly covered with the frozen bodies of dead and dying rocket grunts and their pokemon. Some of Lucas' pokemon were still barely conscious (barring Lael, none of Sean's had managed to survive the cannons), but the garchomp she had been fighting was quickly dealing with them with a clean left-clawed blow to the head. A fair way to her left, she saw blitz locking horns with the persian. The heracross still seemed in remarkable condition considering all he had been through, but Lael knew she had other matters at hand. The garchomp had now seen her and was loping towards her, draconian mouth slightly agape, arms splattered red.

Taking a split second to calm down and re-channel her aura, Lael shifted her feet so that she facing sideways to the fast-approaching pokemon, right paw extended. Lael knew that she wouldn't be able to last long in a one-on-one fight in her weakened state, but she did have one advantage, which was the fact she knew exactly how the garchomp was going to initiate the fight–

Ducking the wild slash at her head that she knew was coming (the garchomp had just done it to Wyvil and Arrow), Lael got down low and delivered a low kick to the garchomp's left leg, causing it to falter onto all fours. Lael quickly pushed herself up and threw an aura infused punch into the small of the garchomp's back, just under the fin. The garchomp let out an ear-splitting roar and caught her in the side with its flailing tail.

Lael was thrown back several metres, landing awkwardly on her front chest-spike. She tried to get back up quickly, but the garchomp had already closed the distance, a dragon claw attack crashing into her back. Whimpering in agony, Lael rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding another dragon claw attack at her head. Sparks lept where the claw gouged the floor as Lael drove her foot into the centre of the garchomp's chest, knocking it off her. Propping herself back up into a sitting position, Lael put her last reserves of strength into an Aura Sphere, charging it for as long as possible. The garchomp regained it's balance and leapt towards her, but Lael held off firing it—

_'Just a little longer...'_

Just as the dragon filled her entire vision, she gritted her teeth and set the sphere off.

* * *

><p>"I swear, if those cannons fire again, I'm going to go stir crazy!" Firael grumbled, throwing another fire punch at the lock on Lucas' cage. After doing so, she kicked Rush's limp body out of the way. "And look at you, wimping out on us just because of a shockwave! Humph! Don't even get me started on Steven. Where the hell is he?"<p>

"Well," Vendel ventured, the prinplup following Firael's fire punch with a water gun, quickly quenching the lock and drenching an already wet Lucas in the process. "I saw him fly in, so he hasn't just run away from the fight or anything…"

"No excuse!"

"Ha!" Sasha said. "You're just mad you're not fighting anyone."

Firael rounded on the sandslash. "You don't know how I think! I'm just angry that these two," she kicked Rush again, "aren't here to...okay, you know what? I'm mad I'm not fighting, so what about it, huh? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Firael didn't have time for much more as Giovanni's gengar ploughed into the charmeleon from behind, instantly knocking her out with a thunderpunch.

* * *

><p>Patrick shot up, inadvertently throwing his covers off. Trying to stop himself from hyperventilating, he tore his shirt off and reached a trembling hand to his back.<p>

Blood.

"'mgoingtodieohgodohgod I'm bleeding to death!" Patrick gibbered, waking Juka up. His pet pancham yawned and slowly made her way over to his bedside.

"Pan pan pancham!"

"Wait, gimme a second." Patrick reached over to his bedside table and fumbled for his translator earpiece. "I'm a bit slow, on account of ME CURRENTLY DYING A HORRIBLE PAINFUL SLOW DEATH."

"Look, just turn around and let me have a look!" Juka huffed, paws on her hips, in an attempt to look annoyed. Patrick laughed instead; it only made her look even cuter. Still, he listened and turned his back on her.

Juka laughed. "You're joking, right? It looks like someone jabbed two needles into your back! To think you had me worried!"

"I-I'm not going to die?"

By now, the panda pokemon was rolling around on the ground, shaking with laughter. "No, you pansy! I've seen babies ignore scratches larger than that. Is this related to Jirachi and those two trainers you had over yesterday?"

Feeling a little silly, Patrick let out a rueful grin. "Yeah. Sorry about freaking out like that, but I thought I was in serious trouble before I woke up. I should probably go back."

Juka shrugged. "Well, if you do, try not to wake me up this time." Just as she finished speaking, both of them heard a tapping on Patrick's bedroom window.

"What was that? We're ninety-eight stories up!" Patrick wondered, shuffling out of bed to peek out the window.

* * *

><p>Giovanni's gengar was wreaking havoc among the pokemon at the cages. It had already knocked out most of them (Lucas also seemed to be knocked out), the only remaining pokemon being Vendel, Sasha, Adele, Gilly, Rai and a very weak Rynka, the bellossom having just sustained a fire punch from the gengar while trying to hit it with some stun spores.<p>

Just as the gengar finished Rynka off with a shadow punch, it got knocked back by a bright red explosion. It shook its head in confusion before turning its attention towards Vendel, who had been spraying water at him the whole time. Panicking, the prinplup tried running away, fearing the thunderbolt that he thought was coming his way. It never did.

"I used Imprision on the gengar, so he should only be able to use attacks I don't know! Morgan taught me pretty much all of the commonly known moves, so it should be stuck to ghost type moves from now on!" Adele called out, the ninetales repositioning herself to get a better shot at the gengar with will o' the wisp attacks, trying to burn the ghost pokemon down.

"So I shouldn't have to worry?" Vendel asked, burning around to shoot another water gun at the gengar, who promptly weathered the blast and knocked Vendel out with a thunderpunch. Sasha looked at Adele quizzically.

"What?" She replied. "I didn't say that he'd be _completely_ safe from it! I don't know thunderpunch!"

* * *

><p>Giovanni watched as his garchomp slowly pushed itself off the still body of the lucario to lock horns with that heracross, the last of the stronger foreign pokemon. Turning away from the battle, he took the last steps towards Jirachi's cage.<p>

* * *

><p>As Morgan was applying the third freeze heal to Arceus, the quadruped slowly struggled into a standing position.<p>

**_"Enough."_**

"Are you sure? You can barely stand! Give it an extra minute, will you?"

**_Arceus slowly shook his head. "I cannot. I must go now, my planet needs me."_**

With that, he disappeared.

Morgan got up and brushed her hands off, glancing at Steven, who hadn't moved from his perch across the corridor.

"Scout, you coming? I'm off to look for Sonya."

* * *

><p>A huge flash lit up their surroundings as Rai briefly staggered the gengar with a thunderbolt. Gilly swooped down from behind and nailed it from behind with a feint attack, wings pulsing with a dark energy. Sasha followed up by bulldozing straight into the dazed shadow pokemon before summoning a maelstrom of sand around the gengar, trapping it inside a sand tomb. Unfortunately, the sand tomb also prevented anyone else from helping Sasha out and she was soon thrown out of the sand tomb, a covering of ice over the unconscious sandslash.<p>

"Aww...tha ghosty knows ice punch too?" Gilly moaned as they waited for the sand tomb to die down.

However, the gengar looked noticeably worse for wear. Adele noted that there were grey blotches on the gengar which seemed more insubstantial than the rest of its body.

"Its pretty weak, guys! We just need another concentrated attack to finish it off!" Adele cried out, summoning more ghostly fireballs and sending them flying towards the gengar, who tried his best in a fruitless attempt to avoid them.

Gilly had worked his way behind the gengar and was preparing another feint attack, but the gengar had anticipated the gligar's attack and spun around as he dived down, right fist glowing a bright blue as it prepped an ice punch.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Gilly cried out, too late to stop his dive. Just as the punch was about ot make contact, the gengar was knocked aside by a volt tackle by Rai. Gilly ended up plastering himself into the ground instead.

Seeing her chance to make a bigger impact, Adele started charging a flamethrower as she lithely scampered among the bodies of fallen pokemon towards the ghost. However, she didn't let it out when she normally would have; she let it build up even further, feeling her insides protest at the harsh treatment they were getting. Her lungs and throat feeling like a furnace, she reached the gengar, batted Rai out of the way, opened her jaws and released her overheated flamethrower, incinerating the shadow pokemon as it writhed in the golden flames coming out of her maw. As she did so, another thunderbolt struck the gengar. Adele pushed and pushed until she had nothing left before finally letting off, stumbling off to the side, tongue lolling.

_'I hope that gengar's down...I'm absolutely spent….'_

* * *

><p>Giovanni opened his mouth to speak, but a heavy tap on his shoulder gave him pause. He spun around to find himself face-to-face with Arceus. In that one moment, all his dreams for world domination and conquest vanished like so much smoke in the wind.<p>

"Oh...my...god…." Giovanni gasped.

**_"Unfortunately for you, 'your god' isn't pleased."_** Arceus said, a bright white ball slowly growing larger over its head.

Giovanni spun around and flattened his palms against Jirachi's cage. "Jirachi! I wish-"

Arceus fired.

* * *

><p>Kova yawned. He was sick and tired of waiting in the Galactic lobby. He stood up and walked past a white smear on the ground (where he'd crushed the tablets Rynade had mocked him with) silently fuming. Approaching the door that Rynade and Giovanni had disappeared through, he tried the door handle.<p>

Locked. One vicious kick later, Kova had given up on waiting and started making his way out of the building.

_'I'm not going to wait in there...Giovanni can call me when he's finished.'_

* * *

><p>A brilliant white light filled the room as everyone got hit by a blistering wave of heat. Rai struggled back to his feet, blinking to clear his eyes.<p>

A huge crater now existed where Giovanni used to stand, at the base of Jirachi's cage, Arceus solemnly standing over what was left of Giovanni. As Rai watched, Arceus' head sagged, and he slowly dropped to the ground, landing with a hard thump.

To his right, Adele mumbled hoarsely, "is that it? Is it over?"

Another voice, slightly muffled, this time from Rai's left. "Aye, that it is. Can someone gimme a hand here? I'm hurtin' somethin' fierce!"

"Ugggh…." Rush groaned, rolling over. "What happened?"

Adele chuckled. "You just woke up? Ha! You got lucky, you know. You got knocked out before that gengar came for us."

Rush didn't move after getting onto his back. "I wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway. I can barely move my wings. God, everything burns!"

Sean stopped everyone's efforts at self-pity. "Err...now that...you know...everyone seems to be dead or knocked out….could someone get me out of here?"

"Oh." Rai said, looking at the trainer. He took off at a run towards Jirachi's cage. "I'll see if Jirachi can help us out. Those cages withstood pretty much everything we threw at them."

"Good." Adele flopped back onto the ground. "That raichu looks to be in pretty good shape; he can do all the work. I'm just going to lie here."

"Sounds good t'me."

Rai reached the control panel for Jirachi's cage. Unfortunately, Arceus' exploits had melted the plastic on the buttons, so nothing was easily readable.

_'Rob, got any ideas for this one?'_

_'Not really. Maybe that big green button? I dunno.'_

Rai punched the button in, and the cage lifted off the dais, letting air into the chamber. Jirachi's back arched improbably high into the air as she took in huge gulps of air, loud rasps that were clearly audible to Rai and Rob's sensitive ears. The raichu jumped up onto the dais next to Jirachi and nuzzled her a little.

"Jirachi, are you alright?"

The gasping had died down, and after a few seconds of heavy breathing, Jirachi's eyes focused on Rai's own and she smiled wrapping her arms around Rai in a spontaneous hug.

"Yes, I'm doing wonderfully now that you've let me out. Thanks for that!"

Rai let out a sigh of relief. "I...I know it's a bit of a bad time to ask you for help, considering everything you've been through, but could you help us with those two cages over there? We can't get the locks open." He pointed at the cages with his tail.

Jirachi slowly bobbed up. "Sure! Shouldn't be a problem. After I get those open, start thinking about your wishes! You don't have much time left until the comet gets too far away and I lose most of my power." Jirachi disconcertingly winked at them with her third eye before speeding off towards the cages, a smirk on her face.

Rai stared after the legendary in shock.

_'A wish? She can fix us up!'_ Rob rejoiced within Rai's head.

* * *

><p>Sonya saw Nikolai dash into the control room just as she rounded the corner. Sprinting towards the threshold, she managed to bash her way into the room before Nikolai could lock her out. She heard a muffled grunt from behind the door to her right and spun around just in time to see Nikolai lunging at her, wildly stabbing downwards at her chest with the scissors held in a reverse dagger grip. Sonya threw her hands up in a desperate attempt to block the blow, narrowly deflecting it past her right leg. However, she also received a thick gash on her right hand from the sharp point of the scissors. That distraction was enough for Nikolai to follow up with a left handed haymaker, weighting the punch with his entire body and catching Sonya square on the side of the temple.<p>

Stunned by the force of the blow, Sonya teetered to her left before her legs gave away beneath her. Chuckling, Nikolai turned his back on her and walked over to the console.

"Looks like the old man still has it in him…now, I wonder what this does? It'd be a shame if it blew everything up."

* * *

><p>Jirachi's psychic abilities made quick work of the lock, popping both doors open within seconds. Sean crawled out as Rai (who had scampered over) proceeded to drag Lucas (who had been knocked unconscious) out of the other cage.<p>

"Now!" Jirachi smiled at them. "You guys all get a wish each! Just make it quick, I'm getting a little sleepy, and I don't wake easily."

Rai was the first to speak up. "I wish that Rob was a human again." As Rai finished speaking, a human blinked out of thin air wearing in a white dressing gown with 'JIRACHI THE FISH MAKER' printed on his back in large bright golden letters. Rob blinked in confusion for a few seconds before staring at his hands and letting out a loud whoop. Sean looked on, utterly bemused.

"Done!" Jirachi said to Rai. "Unfortuantely, you two only get that one wish between you because of the weird nature of you sharing the same body. Anyone else? You don't have to say your wish out loud; I'll hear it regardless."

"Well," Sean spoke up, still eying Rob with a puzzled expression, "Sharon's ability to understand my pokemon has been a godsend to me and my team. My wish is that everyone in the inner sanctum gets the same ability. That'd be pretty cool."

"Ooh! A powerful wish!" Jirachi bounced up and down. "Done! If anyone hasn't made a wish yet, you have only got a few seconds left..."

"I wish I can become invisible whenever I want!" Gilly yelled. Behind him, Rush silently moved into the corner of the chamber and began weeping.

"Uh….what?" Jirachi scratched her head before yawning. "Done, I guess, so that makes 5 wishes! I think...I think..." Jirachi yawned again, the eyelid on her chest fluttering rapidly as the wish pokemon slowly drooped towards the floor. "I think I'm going to call it a millenium now. Odd wish." With that, Jirachi lay on the ground and a purple light began to emanate from her body. After a few seconds, the light dissipated, leaving only a deep purple coloured fist-sized rock.

Rob punched the air. "Woo! It's over! We won!"

Just as Rob finished speaking, a klaxxon briefly sounded inside the chamber, followed by an announcement.

"ATTENTION. THE INNER SANCTUM IS ABOUT TO UNDERGO SELF-DESTRUCTION IN TWENTY MINUTES. THIS IS YOUR ONLY AND FINAL WARNING."

* * *

><p>"Oh dear," Nikolai exclaimed, an edge to his voice. "It seems as though I might have accidentally turned on the self-destruction module. I hope there's nobody in the Containment Chamber." Grinning, he clapped his hands and swivelled around—<p>

Only to find that Sonya had already recovered somewhat and was swinging one of the swivel chairs at his head, aiming for his left side. Throwing up both his arms to whether the blow, Nikolai got knocked back onto the floor, but not before he snatched the scissors on his way down.

* * *

><p>Rob thumped the console that controlled the door and the cannons. "Blasted thing won't work! Now what?"<p>

Adele coughed. "Now nothing. We can't get out. Arceus knows teleport but he's out cold, and all our medical stuff is outside. We just have to rely on Morgan and Sonya to help us out, or we're dead."

"Who designs a self-destruct system that only gives you twenty minutes anyway? It seems so silly!" Rob sat down grumpily. "Sean's wish is good and all, but it's all ultimately useless if we can't use it for more than twenty minutes."

Rai moved over to his trainer. "Well, it kinda makes sense. You'd think we only need one warning to get out, and twenty minutes is more than enough time. Any less is too dangerous and any more is wasteful. Self-destruct mechanisms are supposed to serve two functions: as a trap, and as a cleanup device."

"Well, now I hate Galactic even more for being so efficient. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

* * *

><p>Morgan and Steven burst into another empty room in their search for Sonya, but it was once again empty.<p>

"Just how hard is it to find where Sonya and Nikolai are? The Sanctum doesn't have that many rooms in it, does it?"

Steven frantically started chirping, catching Morgan's attention.

"What is it, Scout?"

"I hear fighting! Quick!"

The swellow simply flew over and started dragging her onwards. With nothing better to do, Morgan dumbly followed.

_'Did I just hear Scout speak?'_

* * *

><p>Nikolai let out a soft cry as Sonya's shoe cannoned into his rib, making him double up on the floor. Scrabbling to get up again, Nikolai was rendered helpless as Sonya once again picked up the chair, ignoring the pain in her hands, and brought it crashing down on Nikolai's body, knocking him back down. Bleeding and dazed, Nikolai curled up into a ball as Sonya heaved the chair up and slammed it down into Nikolai's body a third time. However, this time Nikolai had braced for the impact and so was able to respond by kicking Sonya's shins, sending her lurching back as she lost her grip on the chair, the blood dripping from her hands having made getting purchase difficult.<p>

Using the console to pull himself up, Nikolai slowly turned to face Sonya, who had only just regained her balance and was facing him, if a little unsteadily from the punch she had sustained earlier. Nikolai wasn't in good condition either, having sustained multiple cuts and bruises to his arms, head and body from the pummeling it took from Sonya's chair. Still, he had the scissors, which meant that he still held a material advantage over the woman.

Knowing this, he swayed towards her, clumsily pushing the blood-covered chair out of the way before he surged forwards at her. Sonya was expecting him to do so, and quickly took a step back, avoiding his heavy-handed swipe. Undeterred, Nikolai repeated the manoeuvre, both arms pointed in front of him in an attempt to stab her with the scissors. This time, Sonya tried to take a step back, but realised that she had backed up into a wall. Nikolai slammed into her, and Sonya's breath was knocked out of her as she felt the scissors bury themselves deep in her stomach as Nikolai rammed his head into her chest. Silently screaming at the waves of pain that were blooming through her body, she grabbed Nikolai's head and smashed it into her knee, deriving no small amount of satisfaction when she heard a meaty crunching noise upon impact.

She pushed a reeling Nikolai away, gasping as the scissor blades slid out of her midriff with a soft slurping sound, quickly replaced with a hot, wet feeling as blood started seeping out of the wound. Sonya couldn't help herself; she clasped her stomach with her hands and leaned against the wall, willing the pain away.

Unfortunately for her, Nikolai wasn't finished. A blundering charge that Sonya was in no position to stop made contact with her, and this time Nikolai managed to drive the scissors upwards into her ribs, the point lodging close to her heart. Sonya was beyond caring now; possessed by a second wind, she grabbed Nikolai's head in both her hands and brought her knee up into it again…and again….and again….until Nikolai crumpled beneath her. Following suit, Sonya fell onto her knees, clutching at her chest, making sure that one of those knees landed on Nikolai's neck. Coughing blood, Sonya made one final effort to put all her weight on that one knee, slowly squeezing the life out of the scientist beneath her as her own slipped through her fingers, splashing onto the floor. Clammy hands scrabbled at her body, first weakly, then with increasing franticness until suddenly, they dropped with a deadening finality.

Knowing that Nikolai was now dead and that she couldn't do anything more, Sonya keeled over and waited for death's cold embrace.

* * *

><p>Steven had heard a commotion and had been leading Morgan to the source, their pace only quickened by the announcement that they had heard. Worringly, the disturbance seemed to have died down by the time they reached the control room.<p>

_'I hope we're not too late….'_ Steven thought as he barged into the door, knocking it open.

Behind him, he heard Morgan gasp and run past him. It didn't take him long to find out why. Sonya lay in a pool of her own blood, next to another scientist whom Steven didn't recognise.

"Oh god...oh god…." Morgan was now kneeling next to Sonya, trying to cover her wounds with her hands. Sonya faintly smiled back as a few more rivulets of crimson liquid dribbled out of her mouth.

"I'm done...leave me. Un-Unlock the door…."

"But-"

"It's too late, Morgan. You can't save me."

"If we had been a few minutes earlier…."

Sonya shook her head, hair splaying out behind her. "Still too late. All this...several years too late. Just leave me be, and save those who still can be saved."

Trying to hold back her tears, Morgan stood up and made her way over to the dashboard (gingerly stepping over Nikolai). In a few moments, the door to the Containment was unlocked. Morgan's finger hovered over the self-destruct button, but she decided against it.

"I'm leaving the self-destruct timer running. We've still got seventeen minutes to get out of the Inner Sanctum. That's plenty. The sooner all this is reduced to ashes and rubble the better."

* * *

><p>"We're saved!" Gilly cried out as the gates opened. Sean gave a rueful grin before speaking to Rob.<p>

"Hey, I don't actually know your name or why you were with a raichu and whatever, but could you do us a favour?"

Rob shrugged, a gleeful expression on his face. "Sure."

"Could you get the backpacks that are outside and recall all of the pokemon that belong to us? We still need to get out quickly and you're the only one in any condition to do so. If your raichu helps me, we can probably get Lucas out of here as well.

"On it." Rob ducked out of the chamber and returned with both backpacks. After a short period of time, Morgan and Steven appeared in the entrance of the chamber.

"Sean! You're awake!"

"Yeah, I am. Could you help us gather everyone's pokemon?"

Morgan ran over to the backpacks where Rob had been frantically recalling pokemon at random. "Err...who are you?"

Rob grinned. "I'm the raichu."

"The rai….oh. But how?" Morgan started recalling pokemon as well, albeit at a much faster rate than Rob as she knew everyone's pokemon better.

"Jirachi gave everyone here a wish. That is...well...if they were awake. Where's Sonya?"

Morgan didn't reply. Rob paled, but didn't push the subject any further.

Rai and Sean had managed to drag Lucas out of the Inner Sanctum, and were now making their way towards Aron and Isrea, who were sprawled out half way between Jirachi's cage and the doorway. However, as trainer and pokemon approached, both Aron and Isrea began stirring.

Isrea was up first, clutching her head. "Owww…," she winced as she slowly sat up, before looking around. "What happened?"

Aron, still flat on the ground, stuck an arm straight into the air. "Me too. I would like to know why my head is about to explode."

Morgan's laughter echoed across the entire chamber. "That's all nice, but this chamber is about to blow up in about fifteen minutes, so if you would just help yourselves out, that'd be great. Rob and I are nearly finished with all the pokemon."

"Right. Don't want to get blown up." Aron got on his hands and knees before unsteadily getting to his feet. "This room needs to stop spinning."

As Aron and Isrea started slowly making their way out (using each other for balance), Morgan recalled the last pokemon.

"Right, that's everyone! Let's get out of here! The sooner, the better. Rob, we're going to have to take a person each. You take Lucas and I'll take Myu."

Sean spun around, a quizzical look on his face. "Myu? Where is she?"

Morgan promptly walked over to Myu and heaved him onto her shoulders. Sean shook his head. "What do you mean? That's Saturn. I saw Giovanni knock him out."

"Nope, that's Myu. Saturn swapped bodies with Myu before he made that speech."

"I….see. If that's the case, then where did Saturn go after he made that wish? I thought everything was over when he made that wish."

Morgan shrugged, shifting the weight on her shoulders around. "No idea, but we've got other stuff to worry about right now. Maybe Arceus knows."

* * *

><p>Kova had been aimlessly wandering around outside the Galactica building when some movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Knowing that it was still extremely early for anyone to be about, Kova silently padded towards what seemed to be some figures leaving the police station next to the Galactica building.<p>

_'Odd. Those don't look like policemen.'_

Curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to get even closer, squinting in the sparse light afforded by the streetlights. Realising that they were walking towards him, he ducked into some shadows and let them pass by.

"So none of us actually knows what happened to Saturn?" A female voice said. This confused Kova, seeing as it seemed like the person who had just spoken was carrying Saturn on her back.

"Eh, look, if he's still around we'll worry about it some other time. I just want a nice comfy bed and a good nap."

"Yeah, same here. I don't thin…"

The voices faded away as Kova moved past them and crossed into the police centre. The trail that those people had taken was evident seeing as only one of the doors was open. Feeling a little intimidated by the fact he was breaking into a police station, he nevertheless crossed into what seemed to be the main office. It was completely deserted. Taking some time to look around the adjoining rooms, it only took him a minute to find the secret entrance into the Galactic base.

_'They came from the Galactic base? What's going on down there?'_

Curious, he walked down the staircase, only to be greeted with a long trail of destruction that signified Sean and Lucas' initial push for Jirachi. Realising that the base seemed to be completely deserted, Kova soon broke out into a jog, following the dented walls and impact marks until he reached the entrance to the Containment Chamber.

"Oh my god….what happened here?" Kova wondered out loud. Taking a few steps in, he went left to have a look around. A soft moan caught his attention, and he soon found the source of the sound.

Rynade. Severely injured and trapped under the dead body of another grunt, the Galactic member was struggling with his last breaths. Kova got down and rolled the dead body off Rynade, revealing a long diagonal slash across his front torso with blood still flowing thickly out of it.

"Fancy seeing you here, Rynade!" Kova started prodding Rynade's wound, earning himself a few whimpers from his helpless victim. "Regretting your stunt with the pills now, aren't you?" He jabbed harder.

Suddenly, Rynade started laughing, and no matter what Kova did, Rynade never stopped laughing, a choking guttural noise that kept repeating itself over and over again.

* * *

><p><strong>Read on past the epilogue for this story's final Author's Notes.<strong>

**Thanks for sticking with me!**


	43. The End

Patrick opened the window, only to find a pink-furred and cat-like face beaming back at him.

_"Hey, Pat."_

Patrick's nearly dislocated his jaw from the speed with which it dropped. Juka climbed up his pajamas, sharp claws poking into his back through the fabric.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Also, how do you know my name?"

The mew looked a little affronted at that before quickly waving the question away and grabbing Patrick's arm with one velvety paw.

_"Someone wants to speak with you, so we're going on a ride! Also, you better get used to me, since we're going to be meeting a lot more often!"_

"Wait, wha-" Patrick's words were swept out of his mouth as he seemed to fold and unfold upon himself in a split second. Blinking rapidly and massively disorientated, Patrick spun around in a circle trying to get his bearings.

They were now near the top of a grassy knoll overlooking Sinnoh City. It was at this point that Patrick's jaw decided to pack up shop and leave his face entirely. "This...this is the Sinnoean wildlife preserve! I'm not supposed to be here!"

The mew shrugged. _"So? Not like you're going to get caught. Besides, I can always teleport you back whenever. That translator earpiece of yours still working?"_

"Erm, still haven't told me who you are..." Patrick replied, absent-mindedly fingering his earpiece.

"Later. Come on, let's go! I'm assuming the earpiece is working, so I don't have to muck around with telepathy any longer." The mew lightly floated up towards the top of the hill, the night wind softly rustling through the leaves above. As Patrick dumbly followed, Juka leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"Say, isn't that a mew? The origin pokemon? I'm pretty sure that's what a mew looks like."

Patrick frowned. "Mew? I guess? All we got taught was that it was pink and nobody's credibly reported seeing it in the past five hundred or so years. Then again…I'm pretty sure mew was involved with the whole Jirachi fiasco, so maybe? I never saw it when I was in the past."

"Yeah, no one I know has seen mew either, but my mother told me that mew looked like a pink cat, and we also know that mew is a psychic pokemon, so…" Juka trailed off.

Catching the implication, Patrick shrugged. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

Within a short period, they had reached a clearing at the top of the knoll, dimly lit by the light of the half moon shining above. Across the clearing, the pokemon that had teleported Patrick floated silently next to an oddly shaped silhouette, which Patrick assumed was another pokemon. Patrick took a tentative step forwards, all too aware of all the noise he was making as he crunched through the leaf-littered ground.

"Hello?"

Both pokemon turned around, and the second one beckoned him over. As it turned, Patrick soon realised that the reason for the shape of its silhouette was due to the number of tails the pokemon had.

"Ninetales, isn't it?" Patrick whispered to Juka as he walked over to where the two pokemon were waiting. Juka nodded in agreement before hopping off his shoulder. A soft breeze carried the smell of fresh grass into the clearing.

As he got closer, Patrick realised that the ninetales was completely silver-coloured, almost shining in the moonlight, as opposed to the creamy-white fur in the pictures of ninetales he had seen while at school. Patrick briefly considered the possibility that he was staring at a shiny ninetales, but dismissed it when he realised that even the ninetales' nine tails' tufted tips (now there was a tongue-twister) sported the same dull silver gleam.

"Patrick, it's good to meet again."

Patrick paused, extremely confused. He'd never met this ninetales before. "Again? I don't know you, or the pink cat guy."

The ninetales chuckled, a light bark that Patrick only just managed to hear. "The mew, you mean? That's Lucas. I can understand you not having recognised me; we barely talked. Yet, here I stand, talking to you once more. I've waited so long for this moment. I can tell you're still wondering who I am. Remember Morgan? I'm Adele, her ninetales."

Patrick took a step back. "Wait, but that was-"

"Nine hundred and ninety-nine years and 3 months ago to the day, yes." As Adele finished Patrick's sentence, Lucas had picked Juka up and was now giving her a ride, the pancham crying out in happiness.

"You've lived through the past thousand years? That's….just..."

"Hey, Lucas here has done the same thing, and it's a bit more than that, actually, since I was already fifty by the time I met Morgan. My species do live for extremely long amounts of time, but even we can't live for over a thousand years. A few can get past nine hundred, but that's about it. Only legendaries live longer than we do. Well, porygon too, but they don't really count."

"Then how are you still alive? And you know legendaries don't count either!"

Adele let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Jirachi. She ended up granting six wishes."

Patrick scratched his head. "So you guys rescued Jirachi then? I got hit by something after I opened the door and ended up back here. I wanted to go back but Lucas," He pointed at the mew, who was performing somersaults with Juka in the air, "teleported me here instead."

"He did, did he?" Adele smiled, baring twin sets of gleaming fangs. "That brings up a bit of a paradox, doesn't it? If he hadn't stopped you from returning back, would you have died? A lot of people died in that chamber after you left, and Lucas simply abused his knowledge of the past to keep you safe."

Realising that it was going to be a long chat, Patrick sat down beside the ninetales, still struggling to wrap his head around the idea that the pokemon next to him had lived for over a thousand years. The two sat in silence for a few moments, listening to Juka and Lucas playing above them. Patrick decided to voice the question that had been bugging him since talking to Adele.

"So, Adele, what happened to your fur? I don't remember you looking like that when you were with Morgan."

Adele tilted her head skywards. "Ahh...Morgan. I miss her so. I looked like any other Ninetales for most of my life, but once Jirachi's wish kicked in, my fur lost all it's colour over the space of a few weeks. My body still works as well as it used to, but everything's lost it's colour to the point that even my eyes are a dark grey now."

Patrick turned to observe the Ninetales' eyes, which were the colour of washed slate. "Woah...that's pretty crazy. What was your wish?"

"It was pretty simple. I just wished for the ability to choose the time of my death. Back then, it was simply because I didn't want to die young. Who wasn't afraid of dying young? Still, over the years, that thought has naturally moved on, and I started holding out so I could meet you again."

Taken aback, Patrick quickly responded. "Why? Like you said, we barely spoke."

Adele shook her head. "So? Your actions had a huge impact on the outcome of our rescue mission. Morgan always stressed your contribution whenever we talked about those few days in the Galactic base. Regardless, I want closure. Meeting you brings everything around full circle." She puffed out a cloud of smoke. "I don't know, but it feels like I've finally connected all the dots. Maybe I just wanted to see the future you live in, but even I don't really know why. I just knew that I wanted to _endure._"

Not knowing what to say, Patrick decided to change the subject. "I...I wonder, what were the other wishes?"

Lucas had landed on Patrick's other side and deposited Juka, who had fallen asleep "Thought you'd ask." Adele replied. "Lucas, would you do the honours?"

"Be glad to." The mew replied cheerily. "Your pancham is such a sweet pokemon! I put her to sleep so we could talk at length for a little longer."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "That only because you're a mew. She's frightfully mischievous at times."

Lucas snorted. "Why am I not surprised? Anyway, Jirachi granted six wishes. I was out cold when those were granted, so I didn't get one, which kinda sucks, but I can always try again when Jirachi comes back, eh? Let's see...Sean wished that everyone nearby got the ability to understand pokemon, which was probably the most impactful wish made out of the six. Rob, the raichu, wished for his old body back."

"Wait, wasn't Rob the trainer that we tried to file a missing report for?"

"Yep, that one. Apparently he got dumped into his raichu's body, so that wish fixed things right up. Gilly, who was Aron's gligar, wished for the ability to turn invisible at will. Oh god, did he abuse that ability…."

"Hmm...that's a very specific wish to make, isn't it?"

Lucas' huge eyes shone as he recalled times long past. "Oh yes, but it fitted him perfectly. The number of pranks he managed to pull off was insane. This one time he managed to convince Isrea's parents that their new toaster was haunted! Even psychic and aura pokemon couldn't find him if he wanted to hide. He was a genius." He shook his head twice before continuing. "Those three wishes were made out loud, so everyone knew about them. Two more wishes were made telepathically, one by Rush and one by Adele here. You already know what Adele's wish was, and nobody actually knows what Rush wished for. He never told anyone except Firael and Steven, and they didn't let on either."

"Must have been personal." Patrick mused.

"Probably. Finally, the wish that went so wrong. Oh Saturn, did you ever screw up."

"Oh yeah!" Patrick yelled. "What happened to Saturn, anyway? I heard him declare his wish and then he just went snap!" He complimented his statement with a snap of his own fingers.

Adele nodded. "Arceus later told us that he had figured out what Saturn wanted to wish for before Saturn made the wish. He teleported into the trap just so he could get to Jirachi and tell her how to interpret Saturn's wish."

"Huh?" Patrick asked, a little confused.

"How would you define perfection?"

"Err…."

"Exactly. If you looked in a dictionary, you'd find something talking about flawlessness or completeness. Some argue that perfection is actually imperfection, as if something were 'truly perfect' you wouldn't be able to add to it, and that in itself was a flaw. Paradox aside, the other generally held philosophy is that something is perfect cannot be improved even if you wanted to improve it. In essence, the only thing you could add to something that is perfect is, in fact, nothing. Follow me so far?"

"Yeah, so far."

"However, everything in the world could be improved by adding something to it or taking something away, which is essentially negative addition. What does this mean? It means that nothing fits the criteria for 'true perfection'. Nothing is the only thing that you couldn't improve, even if you wanted to. What is truly flawless? Nothing! What is wholly complete? Nothing!"

Comprehension slowly dawned upon Patrick. "So you're saying that Saturn literally became nothing?"

Lucas clapped both paws together, making a muffled sort of noise. "Exactly! Without Arceus' involvement, Jirachi's wish would have probably failed to go through, since we're all imperfect, so we wouldn't be able to make a perfect being. Denying Saturn while he was a mew would not have turned out well."

"No, it wouldn't. Arceus took a big risk, though." Adele said.

"Yeah, it did, but it paid off, didn't it? How did Arceus figure it all out?" Patrick shook his head in astonishment.

"He said he went off a hunch, but it was an educated one. He knew Saturn wanted him from the incident at Spear Pillar, but Saturn's relentless pursuit for a wish even when he had Jirachi and the fact that he didn't even try and ransom Jirachi for Arceus except to gloat meant that Arceus had a pretty good idea that Saturn didn't just want him. He wanted something more, so Arceus gave it to him."

"Huh. I wonder what happened to everyone else? Sorry for asking so many questions, but I wasn't there and well.,.I guess I'm just curious."

Adele spoke again, chuckling. "It's fine. We'd anticipated you'd ask us a lot of questions about the past. Who do you want to know about first?"

Patrick looked at the mew to his side. "Let's start with Lucas. Weren't you the Champion when I was in your time?"

"Yeah, he was. After Saturn became 'nothing', so to speak, the world was short one mew and the previous one didn't want the job back, so Lucas got chosen to fill the spot, having already done so a few months prior to that as the old mew decided to...um, retire. I'm pretty sure she managed to wrangle some psychic abilities out of Arceus and she went around the world doing whatever she wanted before she just vanished, much like Lucas did. None of us saw her ever again."

Something clicked in Patrick's head. He turned to face Lucas. "That's right! Your encyclopaedia entry said that you disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

Lucas smiled. "Well, yeah, if you count 'mysterious' as me teleporting away from a nationwide address and never appearing in my human form again, sure! I had to go though. Now that I was a mew, my human disguise wouldn't age, and people would have inevitably asked questions. I could have made a killing off skin cream ads though."

Adele chuckled again, but the laugh was laced with a hint of sadness. "Always one for the dramatic, Lucas was. He didn't have to bring you here, but he said he liked the 'atmosphere'."

"Well, in his defense, it _is_ nice out here." Patrick flopped backwards from his sitting position to stare at the sky. "You can actually see stars from here. What about Aron and Isrea?"

"They both went on to become competitive battlers. Sean's wish proved to be a huge advantage for all the humans in the Sanctum. Well, all of them except for Lucas, I guess. Aron and Isrea finished the Gyms, something which made Vaulkner very happy considering he gets barely any challengers. Unlike Sean, who ended up defeating the Elite Four and breaking the record for the shortest amount of time spent as a member of the Elite Four, Aron and Isrea joined the professional battle circuit and enjoyed a lot of success, especially on the double-battle circuit. For _some_ reason, their pokemon worked really well with each other. Aron actually bought a really expensive yacht and crashed it the day after. We had a few laughs about that, but all in all they lived relatively comfortable lives after retiring."

"How did Sean break the record for staying in the Elite Four?"

"Well, Lucas went and did his disappearing act, and since Sean was the next best trainer, Sean became the Champion instead."

Lucas spoke up. "I may have planned that between the two of us. Or maybe not. THE WORLD WILL NEVER KNOW."

"Yeah right," Adele grinned, but it didn't reach her eyes, which still gleamed dully in the moonlight. "Rob finished the gym challenge, more out of principle than anything else, and it took him several years to do so. Still, once he did, he ended up spending the rest of his life catalouging the pokemon language. His work on the parsing and syntax patterns of the pokemon language laid the foundation for that earpiece you're wearing right now."

Patrick held up a finger. "Wait, what? But couldn't Rob also understand pokemon? That's kinda cheating, isn't it?"

"Not really. Jirachi's gift was an instinctive thing; knowing what your pokemon are saying is not the same as knowing how you know what they're saying, if that makes any sense. it took several years before Rob finally managed to find a good way to tokenise the information he had. In the end, he had an advantage that nobody before and after him had, but out of everyone, he used Jirachi's gift to contribute towards the future the most."

Touching the earpiece, Patrick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you've got a really good point. I guess there's only one more person left, right?"

"Yeah." Adele sighed, lying down on the ground and staring off into the distance. "Morgan. After the fiasco at Galactic, all four of us—Morgan, Rynka, Sonata and I—took off back into the wilderness to pursue her dreams of becoming a world-class photographer. Of course, wildlife photography is a lot easier when you can just ask the pokemon to pose to you when they ask you why the hell you're trying to kick down their nest. She's also the only person to have gotten mew on camera."

"Ha!" Patrick laughed out loud. "Now THAT was definitely cheating!"

"I won't deny it," Lucas laughed. "But Morgan was probably the person I spent the most time with out of everyone who made it out of the base alive. The amount of time she spent away from urban areas meant I didn't have to be so discreet, and we spent many nights just talking about stuff. Good times. She was the last out of everyone to pass away. When it did eventually happen, I gathered their remaining pokemon, including Adele and they spent the rest of their lives here. I like to think that their spirits are still with us, even though I know I should be the first to discredit such things."

"Yeah. What I'd give to be back with her." Adele said, voice wavering a little. Patrick glanced over and was surprised to see a tear trickle from the ninetales' eye. It slowly made its way down the steel-coloured fur, a glistening track of past memories shining bright in repose. Overcome by an urge to comfort the stricken ninetales, Patrick moved over and hugged the gray fox, Lucas forlornly watching on. Soon afterwards, Lucas drifted over to Adele's other side and placed a paw softly on Adele's flank.

Nobody moved until the sun started rising, not even when the body started turning cold.

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><p><strong>There we are. I really liked the idea behind this chapter and thought it was a nice way to end the fic, and I hope you do too. Below are just some thoughts I have on the fic as a whole. You don't have to read it, but I felt like I needed to write it.<strong>

**Wall of text warning (there is a TL;DR at the end):**

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><p>Well, I hope you enjoyed the fic! I don't really have any words with which to describe how I feel upon completing this fic. If you had told me I was going to have a finished 200k+ word fic when I first started writing my first chapter, I would have thought you crazy! Partially because 200k is a whopping amount to have written and partially because I was only aiming for a 100k fic in the first place. It felt good to finish, but I must apologise to all of you who followed this fic from the start to the finish (Tsaukpaetra, Pichufan, thewookie1, potayto and ValeforXD are the names that come to mind the most) for my lengthy hiatuses from this fic. I don't think I would have finished without all the encouragement everyone has provided me over the course of the last 43 chapters, so I have to thank everyone who reviewed once again.<p>

That being said, this fic is quite heavily flawed (pertaining to its title, haha). I'm the first to admit that I bit off WAY more than I could chew with the ambitiousness of my plot. Maybe the fic would have been a lot more boring (it probably would have been), but I didn't really have the writing prowess to pull this off really well. I think I've done the story a decent amount of service, but I let things spiral out of control extremely rapidly. The loss of focus on who the main character was (it was Steven, then Firael, then even I don't even know) may have been a strength of the fic, but I ended up flailing around aimlessly because I didn't have an anchor with which to properly pace the story around. This lead to multitudes upon multitudes of plot lines surfacing, reducing the pace of the plot fivefold or worse.

The multitude of plots meant a lot of characters, especially considering the fact that most trainers had multiple pokemon. It was difficult keeping track of who had who travelling with them, and as a result, character diversity really suffered. Most of the characters in this fic are extremely bland, possibly barring Rob, Firael/Alexa, Gilly (probably a little overdone), Myu, Jirachi (the two were extremely similarly written) and Vaulkner (who I really enjoyed writing). The rest didn't show a lot of personality at all, except in little spurts, like Rush around the middle of the chapter. Most of the major characters were actually the worst exponents of this. Earlier on, Aron actually used the word 'blithering'. What kind of kid would use that word? If I do work on my next fic (and I do have 2 ideas floating around - more on that later), the number of characters is going to have to drop dramatically, because it just becomes impossible to handle. I now have a newfound admiration for authors who have a large number of characters in their books, because keeping your characters varied and exciting is absurdly difficult.

The bland characters were part of a somewhat stale writing style, something which I've tried to spice up a little towards the end. Writing still feels a little plastic, but it's an eternal hope of mine that I'll be able to start being to feel like I'm writing smoothly instead of 'he said she said' dialogue with very little in between. My descriptive powers are pretty terrible, but hopefully better than they were at the start of the fic.

Another side effect of a complicated plot is that certain things got dropped. The two biggest things of note were the fates of Alexa's human body (still resting in Sunyshore in a vegetative state) and Rush's mother. You probably don't even remembering those being big things, and while I could have addressed them in chapter 42, I decided to just leave them be. If you were wondering, Rush's wish was pretty simple: he just wanted to know what happened to his mother. This and a few other remaining ideas floating around might see a few extra chapters being added onto the end of this fic as bonuses. Then again, you might not see anything at all.

This fic does have several directions it could go if a sequel were to be written, where Sinther could take over Team Rocket and launch a revenge mission, Aron and Isrea go on NEW AND EXCITING adventures (pls no) or an exploration into the future world with Patrick and Lucas as a mew. However, while these are all possible, I would say that it is extremely unlikely that I will continue along those lines. The fic is finished, and barring the odd oneshot, I doubt I'll ever revisit it again. I'm moving on to fresher and greener pastures. But first, I'm going to power through the 90 or so chapter backlog that has built up in my reading list over the past 1.5 years.

So yeah, looking to the future has never been so refreshing. Both of my two ideas for my next fic are ambitious in different ways, and I'm still undecided as to which I'll take on next. I do, however, have a feeling that after these three fics are written...that'll be it. They say every person has a novel in them, and I feel that's kinda true. None of my next two fics are going to be as long. I don't think I have it in me to write another fic of this length. People like Digital Skitty, ScytheRider, Ri2 and Burawo are actually superhuman to have fics of a much larger size AND of a higher quality. I really don't know how they do it.

Finally, before publishing these last two chapters, I went back over the past 41 and tried cutting down on the amount of author's notes in there. A lot of them pertained only to people who were following the story as it was written then, so I deleted it. I think I deleted about 10,000 words worth of stuff, and some chapters STILL have a lot of words at the end of chapters. I still kept the review responses though, even though they probably should have gone.

**TL;DR: Thanks for reading the fic and sticking through my hiatuses! Your reviews really helped me through the lows of the fic. While I'm really happy with the fact that I finished the fic, it's still pretty flawed. (Multiple) Sequels are possible from this kind of ending, but I won't be writing anything else in this universe save the odd oneshot if I feel like it. Before publishing these two chapters, I went back and trimmed some of the older stuff as well.**

In the end, I don't really care how bad you think you are at writing. Give it a go. I didn't really think I was any good, and now I think I'm even worse, but you WILL take so much out of finishing a fic (anything more than 30k words) that it will be worth it.

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><p><strong>Rush: That's it?<strong>

**Vendel: Yup. That's it.**

**Rush: Well, what happens to us? When everyone leaves this page, what happens to us? Do we just stay here for the rest of our lives?**

**Vendel: You can if you want. But me? I'm going off on a new adventure.**


End file.
